It's a family matter
by Naminamae
Summary: His own son was sitting on the cold floor in front of him, ankles and wrists tied together, a red cloak softly hanging from his left shoulder, caressing the ground. Hawkmoth's eyes traced the borders of the black marks that followed the shape of his once emerald eyes, barely touching his pale cheeks, and got lost in the redness of the boy's irises. "Are you proud of me now, dad?"
1. Prologue

**A/N:** First fanfic for this fandom, I've had this idea for a while and I really want to see where this could go…! Please note that this story could have some triggering points as there is going to be abuse, violence and delicate themes (I don't even know if they are even going to show up and if they do it would only be in a dialogue, but better safe than sorry!)

Oh, and did I mention that there is going to be an overflow of angst and feels?

No?

Too bad.

I'm not a native English-speaker, so constructive feedback is more than appreciated!

* * *

A week later, when he would be asked whose fault the events of those damned days were, Adrien would just reply that everything that had happened to him was pure coincidence or, as he liked to put it, simple bad luck.

With his experience as the black cat of the city of Paris, he had learned to acknowledge the fact that coincidence played an important role in everyone's daily life. After all, Ladybug's powers and his very own relied greatly on this factor, as their luck could affect an entire fight.

That, however, didn't mean that it made things any easier for them. Luck wasn't forgiving; once it had given you something, it wanted it back.  
He, Chat Noir, was the living reminder that coincidence could be merciless at times, retrieving all the happiness and the joy that they had given out for free. Luck could hurt.

It was a fair exchange to make things balanced.

And so, when he found himself kneeled down before Hawkmoth himself he couldn't help but wonder what sort of outstanding gift he had received in order to have to pay such a high price. He struggled one last time, his wrists' skin aching and burning at the contact with the tight rope, and closed his eyes.

He didn't need to watch it to see it come: he could feel it. With each elegant flutter, the black butterfly came closer to him, the whispers that haunted his ears getting louder in his head. Adrien didn't even try to deny that what they offered was appealing, but something in him told him that maybe he would have liked to achieve such things in another, clean way. He almost laughed out loud when he realised that he was acting as if he actually had another possibility.

There was no other way of doing this, and regret could only affect him so little when he knew that he was in the right.

Because Hawkmoth was right.

His dad had been right all along.

He gasped, a sharp pain in his chest forcing him to open his eyes in an unconscious reaction. Every part of his body was on fire, an overwhelming warmth coming from what he guessed was his heart, and the powerful, frequent stabs almost made him want to scream. If it hadn't been for the fact that he wasn't actually bleeding, he would have swore that his insides had been torn apart by now.

He wasn't surprised when he saw the purple edges of the Hawkmoth's butterfly corner his vision.

The fact that he could somehow attribute the source of his suffering to the akuma's doing made him feel relieved, but also excited at the same time.

It was time to get this over with.

"Let's make you proud, Father."

* * *

 **A/N:** Something really quick to just set things out! I tried as hard as I could not to let too many details slip out in order to not give too many spoilers... I am unsure whether I'll continue this or not... The plot that I have in mind right now for this would make me write a 20 or plus chapter story, which is something great but difficult if I'm not motivated enough. Also, writing fiction for a non-native English speaker can be quite scary sometimes.

So it is mostly up to you guys! Do you like the story? Do you think I should continue it or at least upload a new chapter to see where things are going?

Let me know!

Thank you for reading and see you soon (hopefully!)

-Nami


	2. Chapter 1

No one had suspected a thing when that morning Adrien's desk was found empty.

Nino had simply sat in his seat as if nothing had happened, spreading a bit more his textbooks and pencil case on the desk over what should have been his best friend's space, and Alya just complained about how she was not going to be able to use her phone during the lesson without Adrien's voluminous golden hair to cover up for her.

Marinette found that weird, as she thought that Nino's head should have been more than enough to hide her extracurricular activities during class, but didn't question her friend's logic. Knowing Alya, she had probably made a thousands of trials from their teacher's desk, turning her head to the side at different angles and moving on the chair in various positions while looking towards her usual seat in order to see how to avoid to get her phone taken away. Also, there was a good chance that Nino had helped her - or better said, had been _forced_ to help her - so the results of her research were probably pretty accurate.

In all honesty, the possibility that Alya could have actually done something of this kind didn't really surprise her: Alya's phone was her lifesource, a sort of prolongation of her arm, and she would have done everything to keep it as long as possible. There wasn't a time during the entire day where the two could be seen separated. It was understandable, as her blog made her phone constantly buzz because of the many notifications she received. Marinette really wasn't bothered by the constant background noise that accompanied her throughout the day; her friend's face, full of joy and excitement at any new comment, was the cutest thing and it was worth the trouble they could get into.

Her blue eyes involuntarily fell on her friend now, who was in the middle of having a curious conversation with Nino. Her phone had been put aside, her hands resting on the desk in front of her. Marinette hadn't really followed what they were saying, but she was pretty sure that Alya wasn't pleased.

"What do you mean 'I have never seen it before?'"

The boy instinctively backed away from the angry girl, his eyes begging Marinette for some help.

"I just…" he opened and closed his mouth multiple times, unsure of what to say. He was terrified. "I don't… I didn't know about it?"

He looked again at Marinette. What should have been more of a statement sounded like a question, a desperate call for Alya's approval. Unfortunately, Marinette knew her friend well enough to know that that simply was not going to calm her down.

"Nino," she said, hissing his name between her sealed teeth. "I've been talking about it for the past two days!"

He didn't even try to answer her. He had become completely still, panic probably overflowing him and preventing him from doing the slightest movement. His golden brown eyes almost spelled out _help_ to the blue-haired girl.

The truth was, Marinette had _no idea_ of what Alya was talking about either. Admitting it made her feel like an awful friend, but she knew that she hadn't been paying too much attention to what had come out of the girl's mouth in the past days. Akumas attacks had been frequent and had all happened, just for her joy, at night, and she had collected only little sleep as a result.  
She didn't even know how she had managed to wake up and drag herself to school up to so far. Actually, now that she thought about it, it was all probably thanks to Tikki's effort to push her out of her comfy bed.

A soft, almost imperceptible whimper brought her back to reality. Nino was staring straight at her, his mouth closed in what could have been awarded as the unintentional creepiest smile of the year.

 _Time to change the subject._

"Sooo," Marinette started, trying to put on her usual smile. She didn't really have much faith in her chance of actually grinning in a normal way, she knew that she was an awful actress. Her identity as Ladybug had been put at risk many times because of that. "Do you guys know where Adrien is?" She really hoped that his friend would buy it and get distracted by the whole _kill-Nino-thing_ for a while.

She was quite surprised when the boy himself answered her.

"Dude, I was about to ask the same to you, to be honest."

This seemed to catch Alya's attention.

"You mean that he hasn't told you that he wasn't going to come today?" she asked.

Nino seemed to relax at her question. Marinette noticed with pleasure that he was actually breathing.

"Nope." He leaned a bit on the girl's desk. "I mean, he's done that before, so I'm not that worried. I'm pretty sure that he's either sick or that his father threw in a photoshoot at the last minute."

Marinette wasn't exactly satisfied with his answer, but her teacher came in right when she was about to open her mouth again to ask more about the boy.

Ms. Bustier smiled at the teens, her bright eyes sparkling with her usual contained excitement, and asked the students to take out the work from the previous day in order to continue it.

The class had been focusing on the school play, an original script written by the collaboration of many students, but heavily influenced by the world of Alice in Wonderland. Ms. Bustier had simply adored the concept, making the students work hard on many ideas and concepts for the play.

Marinette hadn't had the chance of reading the script yet, but knew that it was going to be something that she was going to like. She knew that the group that had actually came up with the idea had been formed by Juleka, Rose, Alix, and Nathanaël; they were all very different from each other and had probably worked together to find something balanced that everyone could enjoy. Also, judging by the extremely positive reaction of their teacher - enthusiastic little smiles and her decision of dedicating an entire week on starting the project - it _had_ to be pretty good.

Everyone had been assigned something different to do. Nino was searching for some good music to use for the soundtrack and Alya was making extensive research about how the world of Alice in Wonderland had been depicted in other theatrical representations.

Marinette, for her part, had received something more of her liking: she was designing the clothes for a character, the Queen of Hearts. This task had greatly inspired her, and her sketchbook was full of quick doodles of different dresses.

Right now she was working on a short, practical red dress, and was looking at the cards that she had received from her teacher as a reference to help her include some details that would refer to her royalty.

Her sketchbook disappeared from her sight, appearing again in Alya's hands.

"You don't mind if I take a look, don'tcha?"

Marinette tried to take it back from the girl's hands, but failed as she hid the small book behind her back.

"Don't look at them! They are all so bad!"

Alya raised an eyebrow. "Mari, from what I've seen they are pretty damn amazing."

"You always say that." Marinette snorted.

"Because it's true! Your designs are amazing, even Adrien said that, remember?"

Oh, she _remembered_. She remembered every single second of that one-sided conversation.

"He was just being nice…"

She wasn't blushing… right?

Alya's grin told her otherwise. "Girl, you fell _hard_ for him, I swear. I just say his name and you become red like a tomato."

 _Crap. Change the subject, Mari, don't let her tease you about this in class!_

"He… He is working on something like this too, you know?"

Her friend looked at her, confused.

"Ms. Bustier wanted him to design the King of Hearts… or at least that's what I heard in class," she continued.

"Adrien? Designing clothes?" Nino turned around, joining the conversation with a small laugh. "Oh man, he can't draw for shit... Why did she ask him in the first place? Why not Nathanaël?"

Marinette knew that she should have answered him, but she couldn't. Her brain had just frozen, she was dead. _Had he been listening to what her and Alya were saying?_ The more she thought about it, the more appealing fleeing from the country sounded.

"He's working on the backgrounds," she heard Alya continue. "And trust me, that's a lot of work already. Maybe she thought that his father was going to help him with the designs?"

Adrien Agreste. Gabriel Agreste. Fashion. Clothes. _Don't let him notice that you are dying inside, Mari. Think about something else, for the love of god._

By this time, Alya had started to notice that her friend had stopped breathing. She was now looking at her, quite surprised and scared at the same time, but was trying hard to not let Nino notice any of her worries.

"His old man helping him?" He laughed. "Not a chance. Trust me, he's really not the type."

"If you say so," the dark-haired girl concluded, not asking any more questions and starting to type on her laptop, completely ignoring the boy in front of her.

Nino decided to turn around, for the girls' joy, quite surprised by Alya's sudden reaction, but too lazy to actually ask her anything about it.

As soon as she was sure that their friend wasn't looking at them, the girl raised her head, looking at Marinette. She had one of her sympathetic smiles printed on her face, and Marinette gave her in return one of her awkward _thank-you-for-saving-my-ass_ grins.

The rest of the day passed slowly, but smoothly, and Marinette found herself at home sooner than she expected.

As soon as she entered her room, she let herself fall onto her bed, dropping her bag somewhere on the floor. There was no school tomorrow, she didn't necessarily have to finish her homework that afternoon and she was exhausted. Everything could wait right now.

"Tikki," she mumbled, her words muffled by the pillows. "I'll take a nap. Wake me up if something important happens."

If Tikki replied to her, she didn't hear it; her mind was too busy concentrating on every muscle of her body relaxing against the soft mattress.

She was pretty sure that she was dreaming when she was woken up. She had trouble recognising who was shaking her by the arm at first, she really just couldn't see who it was, she was too sleepy.  
Or maybe she didn't care. Probably both.

"Let me sleep," she protested.

"Marinette, this is super important," she heard someone that sounded like a distressed Alya say. "Wake up! It's about Adrien!"

Just like magic, her vision cleared up and she sat up, lying with her back straight on her bed.

 _So it was Alya after all._

Marinette looked at her, still trying to get away from the dreams' world. Her chocolate eyes couldn't hide her fear, and her quick breath suggested her that she definitely wasn't okay. Had she run all the way here from her house? For how long had she stayed there, trying to wake her up?

"Alya? What happened?"

The girl opened her mouth, but immediately closed it. Her lower lip was trembling, just like her delicate hands. She closed her eyes, breathing in slowly, and reached for her phone in her her jeans' pocket.

She gave it to Marinette, looking at the 'play' icon with fear as her friend tapped the wide screen.

The video didn't run for long. After a couple of frames, Marinette had already stopped it to look at her friend with wide eyes, hoping to detect something, anything on her face that could tell her that this was all just a sick joke.

Her blue eyes travelled again on the screen, looking at the two figures tied up to two chairs, each one quite far from the other. The first figure was a man with a black bag over his head, and the other one was someone that resembled far too much someone she knew.

 _Adrien._

* * *

 **A/N:** I don't even know what the hell this is. I didn't even read it twice, I am literally just posting it as it is.

Oh well, I'm sure it will do okay.

Don't expect a lot of quality from me people, unfortunately I don't have much time to correct or write at all, so I'll do what I can :(

Kind of a boring chapter, but I needed to settle some boring things for later on and I HAD to put awkward Mari because she gives me life.

By the way, this is probably the first and the last time in which you'll have such a happy chapter, so enjoy it eheheh


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N:** This is now officially going off-canon.  
I mean, I kind of knew that already, but now it's official. Just so that you know.  
I'm sure that I'm one of the many writers whose story was completely destroyed by the origins episodes. Oh well, it's not like this is going to stop me in any case.  
Enjoy!

* * *

When your worst fear presents itself right in front of you, it is only human to feel the temptation to run away from it. Hiding yourself, faking to forget about it in the hope that it might one day disappear on its own... Those were all normal state of beings, and yet they became all pathetic to Marinette when it came to actually feel any of them.

There had been many times during one of her innumerable battles when fear had almost taken over, making her legs seem heavy with each step and shorten her breath at the point that she stopped breathing altogether, but she had always pushed forward, her own mask giving her strength that she didn't know she had.

After all, those acts of self-preservation aren't allowed when you are a hero; your feelings are not of any importance when someone else's sake is at stake.

She couldn't turn around now. She couldn't close her eyes and pretend that that video wasn't there, that Alya had never come to her house and let someone else handle the terrible truth. It was tempting, but extremely wrong.

There was no 'someone else'. _She_ was Ladybug, _she_ was the one who handled things when others could not and the one who needed her the most right now was the boy she loved.

 _Hesitating was not an option._

She didn't look up another time to meet Alya's eyes; she was too afraid of breaking down because of her friend's sadness. It didn't matter what happened, seeing her so worried and scared was something that she was never going to get used to or allow ever again. She tapped the screen again, watching carefully as each frame gave life to what Marinette could have described as her living nightmare.

The room of the recording was dark, bland; nothing could be seen in the background apart from a black wall, and the only source of lighting seemed to come from the unseen ceiling. The artificial light fell awkwardly on the two figures present in the shot, making their skin look white as a sheet. Despite her efforts, Marinette couldn't make out the details of the two males, as they were too far away from the camera, but her instincts screamed at her that the golden-haired figure sitting on the right had to be Adrien. He looked as if his shoulders had been covered by a sort of red cloth, long enough to reach the ground and hide his torso and his hands, which were probably tied together behind the chair's back.

She allowed herself to focus on who she believed to be Adrien only for a little amount of time however, as her attention was caught again by a figure entering from the left, where the man dressed in black was seated.

The tall man advanced slowly, making his way towards the centre of the shot with his purple cane, which matched the colour of his suit. Once he had made it to the mean point between the two hostages, he started to advance towards the camera, revealing a pair of oppressive blue eyes and a confident smirk. Marinette studied carefully the butterfly-shaped design of the mask which covered his entire face, leaving only his mouth free from the shiny fabric. She had only seen something like that once, and doubted that someone else could have had something similar to it. That was Hawkmoth, the one and only person that her and Chat Noir were after, the man who was responsible for all the akuma attacks.

He stopped walking when he was not so far away from the camera, his hands resting on the cane in front of him, his head high. His gaze briefly landed on the figures beside him, and Marinette noticed with disgust how his grin grew wider.

 _He was proud._

" _There comes a time,"_ he finally started with a slow, dramatic tone, " _when heroes are bound to fail. Today, it was as such for one of the greatest heroes that Paris ever had."_

His right hand left his purple cane, pointing at Marinette's left.

" _Chat Noir."_

Every muscle in Marinette's body tensed up, and time seemed to stop. Her eyes darted to the restrained motionless figure, to her partner. Hawkmoth had gotten Chat Noir, her other half, the one who had been willing so many times to take a bullet for her. He had always protected her when she had needed him.

She hadn't done the same for him.

Guilt and anger overwhelmed her, the small screen shaking because of how strongly her hands were pressing at the edges of the small device. A small _crack_ reminded her of the strength she possessed as a result as her training as Ladybug, and forced herself to calm down. Alya was still looking at her, giving herself away right now was not the best option. She didn't need any more problems. Her teeth slowly sunk on the insides of her cheeks, the progressive pain helping her to calm down and stop the trembling of her lips. She had her tricks to relax, she had had to find them, as there was no one else who she could confide with.

The only person she could openly talk to had been taken away from her.

Hawkmoth could have been lying, she had considered that. Everyone could be hidden underneath that black bag, she had no proof that that was actually Chat. Unfortunately, it wasn't like this made her feel any better.

As if in an attempt to clear her doubts, the video cut to another scene, this time focused on the assumed Chat Noir. Hawkmoth was standing behind him, both his hands resting on his shoulders, almost as if they were claiming him as his own. The light reflected on the silver scissors that he was holding with his right hand, the bright spark of the metal contrasting against the emptiness of the dark fabric.

" _A real shame,"_ Hawkmoth continued. " _He fought bravely, but his kindness was what betrayed him at the end."_ His free hand moved to his head, slowly caressing him. His head was limp, hanged forward. He was unconscious.

" _You would have been proud of him, Ladybug: he fought with everything he had."_ The pair of scissors got closer to one of the edges of the bag, cutting it open to reveal messy, thick blond hair. The villain's free hand now allowed itself to explore it, curling golden locks around its fingers and pushing forward, stroking what was still hidden by the rest of the sack.

" _I don't think I've ever seen anyone put up such a fight, I will give him that merit. However, he did commit a grave mistake, something that costed him his ring."_

The camera was moved again, and in a quick cut Hawkmoth had now appeared on the other side of the room, next to the other golden-haired boy, her friend.

" _He fell for my trap."_

Marinette gaped. That was Adrien, but at the same time, _that wasn't him._  
The boy was awake, black eyes staring back at the camera in distress, thick marks of the same colour following the shape of his eyes in a wave-like manner. His usual tanned skin had turned to an awfully pale shade, his rosy lips mostly hidden by the cloth that had been stuffed in his mouth and prevented him from speaking. Marinette spotted a pair of black, circular earrings behind the golden locks, and wondered if his hair had gotten longer: there was no way that Adrien's hair could reach that length if pulled back. She could see Hawkmoth's hands playing with it, obtaining with satisfaction every now and then small twitches from the boy that caused his blood-red cloak to fall to the side, revealing a black collar tightly hugging his neck. Her eyes fell on the small heart-shaped jewel at its base that functioned as a button, noticing that it was identical to the one that seemed to hold the cloak together, and almost missed the white lace that barely escaped the grasp of the collar.

" _When this boy, Adrien, became one of my akumas I was quite disappointed. He is harmless and not willing to fight, an useless pawn for my schemes. He didn't have the slightest chance to take on one of you two, so I decided to try something else with him."_

With a quick motion, the man's hand circled the boy's throat, firmly grasping his cheeks and chin. Adrien's neck was forced to stretch as Hawkmoth decided to bring his gaze in line with his own, tilting his head backwards. The boy's throat twitched, little gasps coming out of his silenced mouth.

Hawkmoth was hurting him.

" _I used him as a hostage. I lured Chat Noir in here by threatening to hurt the boy, and he came to me alone, afraid that I might kill him."_ He chuckled. " _Luck was on my side, of course. Capturing him was much easier without Ladybug getting in the way."_

 _Capturing him had been easier without Ladybug getting in the way_. _Capturing him had been easier without_ her _coming to Chat's aid.  
_ No matter how she looked at the situation, her absence had been the key element to Hawkmoth's success. It was all her fault.

" _Now, my dear Ladybug, I think it is time for you to join this stray cat and this rejected prince, don't you agree?"_ His hands left Adrien's face, allowing him to snap his head as far away as he could from the man. This only humored Hawkmoth, who smirked in return. " _Your cat especially misses his owner. He's incredibly loyal to you, you trained him well."_

Marinette cringed. She felt the urge to grab Tikki and jump out of her window to teach that monster a lesson, to get her beloved friend and her lover back, but stopped herself. Anger was just what that bastard wanted her to feel. She couldn't play this game according to Hawkmoth's rules when she knew that they had specifically been set to destroy her. She had to find a way to cheat over his corrupted system.

" _They will be waiting for you in the abandoned storehouse of Rue de St. Hélène. Please take your time, we are all available just until midnight."_

His fingers approached again Adrien's throat, and the teen gasped at his cold touch. The gloved fingers traced a horizontal line along the pale skin, slowly enough for the boy to start moaning. His black eyes were shut, probably trying to hide the terror that was running through him, and his breath was alarmingly fastening. Short, fragile sounds escaped from his mouth, all incomprehensible to Marinette's years.

" _We both know what will happen_ after _that time. Don't we, Adrien?"_

The screen blackened, the image of Adrien's distressed face hidden now behind the white "play" button, and Marinette found herself staring at him for quite some time. The silence that had abruptly fallen in the room was not at all awkward; it seemed natural to the two teens. There were no words, after all, that could describe or relieve them from their inner torment.

Breaking it, however, was a necessity.

"Alya," Marinette started, eyes still fixed on the screen. "How did you get this?"

The brown-haired girl almost shivered at the steadiness of her voice. The change of character in his best friend troubled her at the point that it became even harder for her to speak.

"Ladyblog," she said. "Someone posted it on the Ladyblog."

Blue eyes met brown, both searching for one another with the same, simple question.

The blue sapphire hold the answer with secrecy, careful not to reveal it to the closeby friend, looking at how the hazel's sparkle died behind the realization of impotency.

 _What was left to do?_

* * *

 **A/N:** This... this was a roller-coaster. An hilarious one.

You can see how I actually tried at the beginning to write something decent and how the quality of the work just slowly worsened, arriving at the point that I just decided to end the chapter.  
Pfffffft.  
Listen, I'm actually impressed that I uploaded this, all right? I thought it was going to take more time than it did. I guess I just got tired of seeing this "piece of art" on my google docs dashboard or whatever you call that thing.

Thank you all for the lovely comments, they really touched my cold heart and they really motivated me.  
Also, thank you for putting up with my bad grammar and spelling mistakes. You people are honestly so nice ( T w T )

Thank you again and see you soon!


	4. Chapter 3

_I don't have time for this._

Marinette sat in silence, her eyes fixed on the so dear friend that had become a heavy burden in little time, and hoped that her hands weren't shaking as much as she thought that they were.

Normally she would have felt guilty about this whole situation, criticising her own desire of running out of her bedroom and leave Alya behind without any explanation or valuable reason.

But there was _no time_ to feel guilty now: Adrien and Chat had been taken, they were held hostage by the most dangerous man in Paris and there were only six hours left for her to save them both. So yes, jumping out of her window at that exact moment did sound like the most intelligent option available. Unfortunately, she had yet to find out how to get rid of her friend in a way that wouldn't cause her to freak out.

She watched as Alya adjusted her glasses, taking her hand in a soft gesture. She probably had mistaken Marinette's frown for an act of sadness or confusion, and she told herself that it was better in that way.

"Marinette," she heard her whisper. "I'm sorry."Alya's grip tightened, her whole body moving closer to Marinette's. "I know how hard this is for you, I know how hard this is for _us_ , but we- we have to do something."

Her free hand instinctively moved up, stopping at the height of her cheek, and her fingers caressed the so precious earring.

"And I _need_ you to help me doing the right thing for Adrien's sake. We can't afford stupid mistakes. There's too much at stake."

 _That's right. She had no time to lose._

"Alya."

The girl almost jumped backwards, completely taken by surprise by Marinette's strong, loud tone of voice.

"You said the video was posted on the ladyblog, right?" A soft nod was enough to make her continue. "Who posted it?"

"You see," Alya started, taking her phone away from Marinette's lap. "That's part of the problem."

The image of Adrien's face finally disappeared from the small screen, only to be replaced by the pinkish logo of the ladyblog.

"I don't know who posted it. All you need to make an account on my blog is an email, so it's pretty much impossible for me to find out who is behind this." Alya's fingers scrolled down and then tapped the screen, loading the page of the infamous video. "I only know that this guy chose to call himself ' _Cadeau,'_ present."

Marinette gritted her teeth.

 _That jerk._

"I didn't know what to do," Alya continued. "Nearly 200 people had watched it by the time I had seen it and the word was traveling fast, so I just blocked it. Now I'm the only one who can access the video's page."

Her blue eyes moved to the floor, her teeth busy devastating the insides of her right cheek. If two hundred people had seen the video then that meant that they were also in great danger; it wasn't unusual for her and Chat to rescue civilians who had gotten themselves involved in some akuma attack, and this surely was not going to be any different. The Parisians were an overall nice population, always ready to fight for what they saw as the right thing to do, even if that meant making the lives of the two heroes even harder than they already were.

This time, however, Ladybug could not afford to be on the lookout for these kind of people. Two hostages were enough.

"You need to bring this to the police."

Alya shifted in her seat, the soft pillows of Marinette's bed moving underneath her weight. "I thought the same too at the beginning, Mari, but-"

"There's no _buts_ , Alya." Marinette interrupted. "If we don't do something people are going to be there and they might get themselves into something dangerous. The police has to secure the area."

The brown-haired girl raised an eyebrow, both confused and annoyed at her friend's reaction. "I know, Mari, I'm not stupid. If you had let me finish, you'd probably know already why I think calling the police could become a problem."

Marinette didn't seem to take her friend's attitude too well, however, as she just sighed and closed her eyes in resignation. She didn't have time for this. _There was no time,_ and her friend still thought that she had the freedom of explaining everything at her own, slow terms.

"Then just spit it out, Alya!"

The girl stayed in her place, not moving of an inch. Marinette watched as her eyes studied her, shifting from anger to resolution.

"I'm not telling you anything until you calm down, girl." She put her hands on Marinette's shoulders, forcing the two to stare at each other right in the eyes. "I came here because I know how much you care for Adrien and because I needed advice from the person I trust the most, not because I wanted to argue. I need you, and I need you as your usual, clumsy self."

The other teen couldn't help but stay silent at those sincere words. She had shouted at her friend, accusing her without a specific reason if not for her own nervousness, and yet she still talked to her as if she understood everything, as if none of what was happening was her fault.

Alya didn't know that she was Ladybug. Alya didn't know that her world was crumbling to pieces around her, that the weight of her actions was suffocating her at the point that she couldn't keep a steady breath. And yet, her support was everything she needed to keep going. That small smile that she pretended to hide when she was mad, that pat on her shoulder at the end of the day when she was feeling down… That was all she had left now, and she was glad she had it.

She glanced down, ashamed of herself, and hoped that her friend could forgive her.

"Alya… I'm sorry."

Alya's lips curled up into a smile.

"And also… I'm not _that_ clumsy."

She looked up just in time to catch her friend rolling her eyes while giggling.

"If that's what makes you sleep at night, then keep believing that," she finally freed Marinette from her grasp, putting a bit of distance between the two. "Now, let's get to the serious business."

Alya grabbed again her phone, putting it on the bed just between her and Marinette. "I want to let the police know about the video, but I'm not sure what they would do with that information. You see, whether me or you or hundreds of other people see it and freak out because of it is not that important; the only thing that matters is that Ladybug watches it."

Marinette didn't need to hear anything more to start worrying: she knew that her normal life and her superhero persona were going to create one hell of a mess at any moment now.

"If the police takes the video, I can't be sure that they'll give it back to me. They could take complete control over the ladyblog - something that I _really_ don't want to happen - and prevent the video from being shown ever again. That isn't necessarily bad, but how can I know that Ladybug knows what's going on if the video is only in the hands of the police?"

 _Exactly._

"So I have this sort of dilemma going on in my head and I really don't know what to do." She put her hands in the air, her long hair falling to the side as she tilted her head. "From one side I don't want to risk losing the ladyblog and I want to make sure that Ladybug has the chance to see the video, but from the other side I know that people might get hurt if I don't give it to the police as soon as possible."

Her round eyes looked at her friend, pure concern shining through them.

"What should I do?"

Marinette tried as hard as she could to not jump on her seat at her question, her hands clutching her knees. She concentrated, her gaze not meeting her friend as she tried to find a solution for a problem that really _didn't exist._ Ladybug knew everything regarding the situation and was already freaking out as well, there was no need for Alya to waste more time questioning which of the two options was the best one when there was nothing that could go against her. But then again, she couldn't know that.

"You could do both," she said. "Put it back up online, and then wait. The media is going to find out about it and it's going to be everywhere. Ladybug won't miss it." She acknowledged Alya's smile and excited expression, avoiding to point out how happy she was that for once she was having a great idea. "And it's only at that point that you call the police to make sure that they know what's happening."

Before she knew it, Alya was hugging her, overwhelmed with joy.

"That's a great idea!" She pinched the other's hips and smiled at the small squeal she received in return. "I knew that coming to you would have helped!"

Marinette didn't answer that. She gulped down, slowly taking her friend's hands away from her.

 _At least she had helped someone this time._

"We should go tell Nino after I put the video back up," Alya continued, not detecting her uneasiness. "And then go to the police with him."

The brown-haired girl stood up and gestured her friend to join her. "Come on, let's leave. We don't have much time."

Marinette didn't need to look at her to know that she was filled with hope now and was probably disappointed by her stillness. Her legs and her whole body refused to move, her mouth closed in an attempt to hide the small gasps that were assaulting her throat. She was so ashamed of herself.

"Alya," she managed to say in a not-so-steady voice. "I… I need some time."

The girl made a step towards her, her eyes full of worry. She looked like she was about to say something, but Marinette interrupted her.

"Alone."

Her hands once again grabbed her knees, and she desperately clung at the sensation of her fingers crashing the soft skin underneath their grasp to stay in control of her own body.

"I need some time alone."

Alya stayed silent, staring at her friend with an expression that Marinette couldn't read.

"Please," she asked, her voice almost inaudible.

Her friend frowned, inhaling sharply. "Mari… he will be all right." She kneeled before her, attempting to smile. "He is going to be okay. Ladybug will save him, she will save them both."

Yes, the same Ladybug who was currently trying to hide her tears from a friend that was way too close to her face to not notice. Everyone always took for granted that she was going to save the day, that the superheroine always managed to success. No one ever asked themselves how that who could become a stress for her, who saw that failing was not an option; of course, the nature of her job required that she succeeded for the sake of the Parisians, but that wasn't what necessarily scared her.

The people believed Ladybug was perfect, that she always won, but what would happen if she happened to fail? Would all the people that claimed to love her suddenly abandon her, angry and frustrated because of her mistakes? Or would they see her for what she really was, a pathetic fourteen years-old who didn't have the courage to ask her crush out?

Both options were terrifying to her.

" _Please,"_ she begged one last time.

Alya took a long while to take her decision. She was conflicted, it was evident: she didn't want to leave Marinette alone in that state, but also knew that her friend needed her space and that there was nothing she could do to cheer her up. The only thing that was left for her to help both Marinette and Adrien was giving the video to the police.

She hugged her friend, hoping that her hold would stop her weeping. She wasn't surprised when she saw that it didn't work as she hoped, and she let go of her, slowly getting out her room. A small nod was all she could do to give her friend a sort of goodbye, as she didn't find any words that could fit that situation. She looked back at her friend, and realised how much seeing her like this destroyed her. She had to be strong for her, too.

As soon as Alya left, Tikki came out from where she was hiding, behind the big computer that sat on Marinette's desk. She snuggled her chosen's cheek, listening to her cries until she calmed down a little.

"I'm… I'm sorry. It's just that..." the hero said. "I never felt this powerless before."

Tikki didn't add anything to what she said, giving the girl the comfort she needed with affectionate caresses. Sometimes everything someone needed was a little bit of silence to sort things out in their head, Tikki knew that. Her theory was proven right when Marinette stopped crying soon after, wiping away still fresh tears with the back of her hand. It was only then that she decided to speak.

"You are not powerless," she claimed while moving in Marinette's vision, staring at her wide, blue eyes with an understanding that belonged to the closest of friends. "You are one of the most cute and courageous Ladybugs I've ever met, and I'm proud of being your kwami."

"I'm so afraid… I'm so afraid that I won't make it this time, Tikki. Chat won't be there to help me. I'm alone now."

She felt pathetic. Why couldn't she stop being afraid? What kind of hero was she?

The kwami crossed her small arms in front of her chest, her back straightening as she almost shouted at the teen. "Marinette Dupain-Cheng, are you telling me that my moral support is not good enough for your standards?!" She saw Marinette giggle at her scolding; after all, she knew that she wasn't really that intimidating when she was mad. "How insulting! I'm genuinely offended!"

She caught herself staring at the girl, who seemed to be unable to hold her laughter now. She let a smile escape her own lips as well, her eyes softening at the amused girl. She hated seeing her sad.

"You are not alone, Marinette," she continued. "I won't let you _ever_ be alone, and you are strong enough to deal with all this."

She again reached for Marinette's cheek, closing her eyes at the contact with the warm skin.

" _I believe in you."_

A pair of hands softly grabbed her in a sort of embrace, Marinette bringing her close to her nose so that she could rub it against her forehead. She found the kwami adorable with her eyes closed and her content smile, and almost didn't want to let go of her.

"Thank you, Tikki."

"Don't thank me, silly! I'm always here for you." The small deity flew towards the centre of the room, giggling. "Now, let's save those two, Marinette! We need to hurry to that abandoned building!"

"Yes," Marinette agreed, "but we have to wait for the news to talk about it, so that we can be sure that the police is going to be there to secure the area. I don't want anyone to get involved, it'd be too dangerous."

"Mmh, I see."

For a little while, the two stayed in silence as Marinette sat in front of her computer, refreshing the homepage of Le Monde every five minutes or so. She had thought about going down and look out for news while watching TV, but had concluded that it was too dangerous since she wanted Tikki to be with her.

"You know it's a trap, right?" She heard the kwami say.

Of course she knew that. She had known that from the very first second she had seen that damned video, but she hated to think that her friends were being used in order to trap her. It made her feel even more guilty.

"Yeah," she answered.

"And?"

"...'and' what?"

"Marinette, we can't go in there without a plan!"

The girl hid herself behind her arms, resting her head on her desk and avoiding in this way the kwami's enraged look. "But we have no idea of what is going to happen. We don't even know where this place is."

Tikki didn't sound happy with her answer, but didn't add anything to what she had said. She must have realised that planning was, in fact, impossible when you didn't know anything about either the location or the enemy you were going to face. She only prayed that the good luck that always seemed to be on their side helped them today as well.

"I don't plan on fighting Hawkmoth," Marinette mumbled. "I'll try to be out of there as soon as I free Chat and Adrien."

The kwami produced an unsatisfied grunt, and proceeded to sit on the now abandoned mouse, pressing by mistake the refresh button once again. Noticing that she had pressed something, she turned towards the screen and screamed at what she saw, catching her chosen's attention.

Marinette didn't lose a second: she grabbed Tikki, throwing her into her purse and ran out of her door, reaching the street. Her vision moved back and forth to find the entrance to the metro, and she almost got hit by a car while sprinting towards it.

She wasn't thinking; her legs moved on her own, and she had forgotten that she needed to breathe. Any of her characteristic kindness seemed to had gotten lost somehow as she pushed through the usual metro crowd, receiving any now and then mild insults or reproaches. She hadn't planned on taking public transportation at the beginning, but figured that her own subconscious had chosen well: her destination was far from where she lived, traveling by the Parisians rooftops would have been tiring and too risky, as she could have been spotted by the enemy. Sometimes having a double identity did have its advantages, after all.

She got out of the metallic cage with the same frantic speed she had used to get in it in the first place. Foot after foot, she resurfaced from the underground and was met with the sirens of the police. Many cars were, in fact, blocking the entrance to the road that preceded her, a dozen policemen guarding the entrance so that no one passed over the forbidden yellow line that had been especially set up for the occasion.

Behind them, Marinette spotted what she was searching for, and everything else disappeared from her sight. The building did indeed look abandoned, with the dirty concrete walls and the shattered windows, and was easy to spot, but she still thanked the police for making her life easier by making it even more obvious to her. She ran, her feet barely touching the ground because of how fast she was going and tried to not trip as she searched for a good spot where to transform. She abandoned the crowded street, leaving behind the curious Parisians and the loud cars, and entered a thin alley.

"Tikki, transform me!"

Her yoyo was swung high up, over the building's chimneys. Marinette started to breathe again as she was lifted up by the strong string, and proceeded to approach the location of her meeting, hiding occasionally behind dish antennas to not be seen.

She reached its proximity at incredible speed, and let herself fly through one of the shattered windows of the wall that faced her. Once inside, she didn't stand up, but instead stayed bowed down, looking around her with anxious care.

Hawkmoth could have been _anywhere_.

The building was, as she had noticed outside, of a squarish structure: it had had to be a sort of factory or storage building, as the centre was completely empty and the five floors followed the thick walls, acting as a border to this sort of bare void that was the centre. The floors faced directly the empty space of the building, a metal railing diving her from a fall that would have caused anyone to die. She made her way towards it, crawling on the worn-out red pavement, and tried to take a peek on what was going on on the other floors.

No one seemed to be there: only dirt, graffitis and abandoned objects seemed to inhabit this place. She glanced down, trying to get a glimpse of what was in the centre of the building instead, and had to stop herself from gasping.

That red, that vibrant colour that had been imprinted in her memory from that cursed recording was there, on the bottom floor.

 _Adrien was there._

She threw her yoyo out, trying to slowly descend towards her friend, and got a better view of him. His head was low, hair falling on his vision, and he seemed to be sat down, his hands and still hidden by a red cloak. The possibility that he could have been unconscious because he was hurt made her stomach twist in a way that she had never experienced before, her breathing becoming unsteady again as she bit the inside of her cheek.

She didn't have more time to focus on her own suffering, however, as a cold, metallic sound forced her to flinch. Instinctively, she let the string of her yoyo run loose, allowing her body to fall towards the bottom of the building at great speed, and glanced up just in time to catch a silver blade running over her head. She groaned as she hit the ground, pain resonating throughout her entire body, but still managed to get up with only a couple of bruises.

Superhero powers were really something else.

Her blue eyes scanned the room, searching for what could have been the source of that attack, and immediately recognised the unconscious figure at the end of the room.

Another spot of red, however, caught her eye, and she was greeted by messy golden hair and a whole set of blades. The figure approached, a red cape softly following him as well as a pair of black spade-shaped earrings, and revealed a bandaged chest and loose, black pants. Red eyes inspected her, the thick diagonal red marks on his cheeks deforming from their usual straight shape as he smiled.

Marinette couldn't believe what she was seeing.

" _Adrien?"_

* * *

 **A/N:** Cliffhanger. You're welcome.

Okay, I need to stop posting at 3 am, it's getting ridiculous, it's the third chapter in a row that I post at an unreasonable hour.

In any case, here's the new chapter! I wasn't planning on writing so much interaction between Mari and Alya, but what can I say, I love my two girls too much and my hands did everything on their own.

I hope it's okay? I don't know, I really struggled writing some parts of this, so I hope they turned out alright.

As usual, thank you for bearing with my awful grammar and spelling mistakes and thank you for your lovely comments. You are all angels.

Until next time (- w -)/


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Things will get a little hard to understand from now on, but trust me when I say that most of your doubts will be cleared up in a couple of chapters.

So please enjoy reading and don't stress too much if you don't understand something, everything will be explained eventually :D

* * *

Marinette dodged a silver blade with a jump to the side, and then another one soon after.

The merciless swords came at her at incredible speed with only one intention: killing her. This, however, did not seem to be an important enough reason for her muscles to react properly, as they seemed to ache at each dodge. She was pretty sure that she would have had the chance to show off a brand new haircut if she managed to come out of that place alive.  
Her blue eyes could hardly keep up with everything that was happening in front of her, especially because of the silver surface of the weapons which were sending her flashes of the light they reflected, and managed to detect that the swords were coming all from one direction: Adrien.

Another Adrien. Yes _, there were two Adriens in the room_ , her brain was still trying to process that bizarre information. But then again, when akumas were involved, anything was possible and it was not the right time for her to make assumptions; she kind of had to focus on staying alive.  
She looked over at the akuma who was tied to a chair, the one that Hawkmoth had proudly showed off in his video, and the other who was currently busy killing her. His red eyes pierced her skull, an anger that she didn't think Adrien was capable of feeling showing through them, and his mouth stretched wildly as he sent more swords flying towards her without a single gesture. The weapons circled behind him in a fast pace, trembling just like the akuma's body did each time they missed their target.

Ladybug was anxious. His attacks were fast and he was unpredictable, she had realised that sooner or later she would have had to retreat. The power of this akuma was strong and unknown to her, it was dangerous to battle him directly without having observed him first. Plus, she didn't really feel like luck was on her side today. Keeping a safe distance was necessary and preferred, if possible.

Marinette, on the other side, was ecstatic and couldn't stop her inner voice from telling herself how _wrong_ all of this was. Adrien, or _the Adriens,_ were okay, and it didn't seem like they had been severely injured. This only pleased her, and she would have smiled if she hadn't been terrified that one of the boy's blades could pierce her skin at any moment. The fact that he had been trying to stab her for the past 5 minutes did also have its effect on her, and Marinette really felt like crying.  
Such anger didn't suit Adrien: he could not wear such a face, dress that way, with his torso completely bandaged and his bare chest covered by a pierced cloak, and be comfortable with it.

 _Those red eyes weren't his._

The last sword fell to the ground, missing again its target. Marinette saw that as an opportunity to catch her breath, putting a halt to her wild dance as she watched Adrien snort at her.

She had to talk to him. He was still Adrien, there was still a chance that he would listen to her and stop fighting. After all, the boy had always been so kind and calm, that sort of anger couldn't come from someone like him. If it hadn't been for the akuma, he probably wouldn't have been capable of even raising a sword at someone. No matter how she looked at the situation, Adrien was innocent to her eyes: every blade he had thrown at her, every hateful glare… those weren't his. It was all Hawkmoth's fault, and Marinette would make him pay for how he had turned Adrien, her sweet, cheerful Adrien into that sort of monster.

She gripped tightly yoyo, silently praying for Tikki to give her the strength she so desperately needed.

"Adrien," she called.

A growl was all she received in response. The boy was still looking at the ground, observing the blades that had fallen behind her with disappointed written all over his face.

Marinette breathed in, speaking louder this time. "Adrien!"

In an instant, the blonde's head snapped in her direction, his fist closed as he brought them up to slam them down in the air. "Don't you _dare_ call me that!"

The violence in his voice almost made the hero stumble back, but she managed to stay in her place. There was nothing she could do if not use the usual initial akuma protocol, which usually wasn't really a success but was still worth trying, with her friend as well. She bit her lower lip as she spoke. "Please stay calm. I am here to help you."

"The only way you could help me would be giving up those sweet earrings of yours, lady."

His words run through her slowly, sharp and painfully hurting her as she realised what they truly meant. Sure, she had heard similar versions of the same phrase hundreds of times, but seeing it coming from Adrien was something that she never had the displeasure of experience and something she was not ready to accept.

 _This isn't him,_ she reminded herself.

He, however, seemed to interpret her silence differently. It was weird to watch his face contort in a fake smile, anger and anticipation vibrating through every inch of his skull.

"You don't disappoint me, Ladybug. You are fierce and strong-headed as always, just how I like it." he crossed his arms over his chest, revealing a whole set of what seemed to be black spades traveling down his arms. "You are going to make me chop you to pieces before you give them up, aren't you?" he took a step forward, his feet leaving a trail of blood behind them. Marinette gasped at it, wondering _whose blood that was_. "Well… it's not like I mind."

A hiss resonated through the air and in a matter of seconds the symbols on his arms seemed to get larger as a dozen of silver blades made their way through them, taking their shape just in front of the weird-looking tattoos and resting afterwards floating in the air beside him.

" _I was actually looking forward to that."_

And with that, the blades started their deadly dance again.

* * *

 **A/N:** Sooooo long story short, this is not how long I wanted this chapter to be, but because of school and general lack of willing to live I'm just leaving it as it is. I really wanted to update and I don't know when I'll be able to write again, so this was necessary in my opinion as so many people were confused about what had happened to Adrien in the previous chapter.

It is possible that in the future I could decide to delete this entire chapter and re-post it with its actual lenght + new parts, but I'm really not sure about that for now. What do you guys think about that? Is it really necessary or should I just leave it as it is?

Sorry people, I promise I will do better next time, but for now just have a little patience, okay?

Thank you as always for putting up with my weird updates and grammatical mistakes ! Hugs to everyone who's been encouraging me with my English and with this project in general, I'll say it again, you are all angels.


	6. Chapter 5

A snap of Adrien's fingers was all it took for the blades to start their wild dance again, and Ladybug was forced to join in as well, afraid for her own life. She almost tripped on one of the many swords that were on the ground, her mind too busy searching for a strategy.  
Dodging was her only option at the moment, as blocking the swords was risky: sure, she could have always tried to deflect them with her yoyo, but there was no guarantee that that would work. Ladybug had never encountered an akuma with such a power before and didn't know how to fight him without injuring herself as well. What she knew, however, was that her yoyo _could_ break and give her a really, really hard time; that was why she decided to use it as her last resource, continuing as long as her legs didn't give up.

Her eyes couldn't help sending worried glances at the ground as she jumped all over the worn floor. The swords that were at her feet were rapidly accumulating, and there was no guarantee that they were going to stay where they were for the rest of the fight.

Step after step, she soon felt her feet stumble upon a wall behind her. She gritted her teeth, aware of the fact that being cornered was what could be her end, and rolled sideways. She needed space to dodge those blades if she wanted, well, to actually dodge them and not die.  
Her eyes darted to the standing figure now far away from her, who was currently grinning. He hadn't moved of an inch from the beginning of the fight, thing that she was really grateful for, as that meant that she actually didn't have to think about where he was at while fighting for her life, and he didn't seem to be too pleased about the ongoing battle. His smile was nowhere near calm, his eyes squirting with every sharp noise of a blade piercing the air, and a loud hiss would escape his lips whenever said swords would touch the ground.

He really couldn't wait to hit her.

She couldn't accept this: Adrien, the sweet and innocent boy that she so much loved could not be feeling something like bloodlust. Marinette couldn't allow the strong sentiment that was guiding him to transform him in such a way, and she couldn't allow herself to connect that menacing figure with the soft, warm smile that always managed to make her heart melt. Those two faces, even if they belonged to the same person, were very different.

Ladybug took in as much air as she could, attacking with the only thing she had left: words.

"Adrien! Stop this!"

She heard the akuma mock her with a short laugh. There was something cruel hidden behind that irritated smile of his. "Come on, don't you dare give up on me now, _my Lady_. We've just started dancing."

The world stopped for Ladybug. Her legs locked themselves onto the ground, her arms dropping to the sides, heavy and tired. The fact that she was still alive and not chopped to pieces surprised her, but she glared up, meeting those unfamiliar red eyes. Between the many swords that were circling her now, she could see him: he clicked his tongue, waiting for her to understand his words.

My Lady.

 _My Lady._

"...Chat?" the name left her lips involuntarily as her heart started racing.

Chat. She had forgotten about her partner, the one who she had seen tied up on a chair alongside Adrien. She hadn't eveng questioned where he could have been while entering the building: she had gone straight for Adrien. How could she have done that? Where was he? Was he injured? Was he scared?

A loud tap on the ground caused her head to snap up, ready to face the still distant akuma. A silver blade was pointed towards the ground, his hands resting on it as he spoke.

"You are a horrible person." there was a tremor in his voice. Whether that was caused by his sick sense of humor or anger, Marinette didn't know. The only thing she knew was that she _agreed with him_.

"Stubborn. Selfish. Presumptuous. And yet, he still loves and cares so much for you." his grip tightened, the sword now shaking underneath his force. The deadly tip was now unsteady, scratching the floor and creating what she found an eerie sound. "Was it too much… Was it too much for you to do the same?!"

Marinette caught at the corner of her vision the swords approaching her one by one, closing her in what should have been a deadly trap, but none of the swords ever touched her. With a swift motion, she got out her yoyo, swinging it around herself.  
The noise of the cold metal touching the ground suddenly became a sweet music to her ears. Luck was blessing her yet again.

"You are so cruel," Adrien was shouting at her, more swords gathering behind him. "How can you still call yourself a hero after what you have caused?"

Marinette didn't understand. Her heart was shattering underneath all those heavy words, words that she didn't comprehend. She skipped a breath when she saw the shiny metal move rapidly towards her along with its owner, who was now armed. She gulped, gripping tightly her yoyo.

"Don't you know…"

A lunge. A desperate dodge.

"...that he's suffering because of you?!"

Silver clashed against the texture of the magical weapon, sending the akuma's weapon out of his hands. He showed his teeth, growling as he called for another sword to come to him.

"Don't you know that it would have been better for him to never meet you?!"

Hit after hit, Marinette's feet met again the so hated wall. Her blue eyes narrowed at the realisation of her imminent doom, her hands busy gripping the yoyo that shielded her from the violent akuma's assaults. Her sides were unprotected, and the blades were already positioning themselves to strike her from there.

"Don't you know that it would be better for you to just disappear?!"

 _She was going to die._

She opened her mouth, ready to shout to the boy she what were her last words. She would tell him that she loved him, and that she was sorry. She would tell him that she loved him, and that even though she didn't understand him, she forgave him. She would tell him that she loved him, and that she wished there could have been more for her to say.

But a voice that was louder than hers, a frantic cry, started first and interrupted her.

" _Spades!"_

From the opposite side of the room, someone was moving underneath that blood red cloak, messy hair moving as his head was shaken from side to side. The other Adrien had waken up, and was trying with all his might to free himself from the tight rope that bound him to the chair by trying to move his hands, tied up behind his back. He was using his own weight as well to swing from right to left on the chair, possibly trying to make it fall to the ground.

Black eyes were contorted in sadness and frenesy, the portrait of someone who was seeing his worst nightmare becoming reality appearing not far from the two. "Spades! Please, stop!"

The named akuma was paralysed, evidently taken by surprise by the event. "You are awake?!"

Ladybug took this distraction as her chance. She stopped her yoyo, kicking the so named 'Spades' in the stomach. She then swung her yoyo high, attaching it to one of the many metal railings that cornered each upper floor. She didn't look at where exactly she was headed, as her eyes only wanted to meet the two black orbs, the ones that were so familiar to her.

Those were Adrien's eyes. Human, fragile, and soft. Something so mundane had never been so sweet to her.

She grabbed the railing that had saved her life, ignoring the angry growls that were coming from behind her, and jumped over it, stationing herself on what seemed to be the second floor. Marinette allowed herself to breathe: it would take time for Spades to reach her, admitting that he could in the first place. She hadn't seen, in fact, neither stairs or an elevator that could link the higher floors to the main ones. She gasped at the sight of some swords flying towards her, and raced to an old desk that was just next to a dirty window. She turned it to the side and used it as a temporary shield as she faced the dirty ground. The blades hit the hard wood with a loud _thump_.

"You want me to come to you, Ladybug?" she heard the akuma shout. "Fine! I'll come to you."

The heroine lifted herself up, sticking her head out of her safe place just enough to see what Spades was doing. Swords were forming a path in front of him, a sort of stair that would guide him to her. All of them were disposed vertically, with their sharp edges facing the ceiling.

"And this time, I won't let you get away."

Spades put his feet, one by one, on each sword, the sharp silver cutting the soles of his feet. Drops of blood dropped down on each sword, the crimson colour contrasting with the immaculate metal.  
Marinette gaped, horrified and confused: the boy didn't seem to mind the pain in his feet, and kept going, steadily glancing towards her direction. Her eyes, however, caught a glimpse of what was happening behind him. The many fallen swords that were covering the ground had now disappeared, leaving behind only the scratches that they had caused. That was an important piece of information, as she obtained a great clue about the akuma's powers: his swords had only temporary power.  
Now, how these swords lost their efficiency was not yet completely clear to her, but it had to do with them interacting with other objects and people that weren't the akuma himself. That would have explained why the swords that touched her yoyo string while she was protecting herself had fallen to the ground and never moved again, while the swords that Spades was using to get to her were now moving by his side even though he had stepped over them.

So, in brief: _touch them before they touch you and you'll be fine._

"Spades! Stop!" the other version of Adrien was still screaming at the top of his lungs. He was now on the ground, still tied to the chair, moving his hands and kicking frantically. "It's not her fault, leave her alone!"

Spades snarled at him, stopping in his way to meet his other half's eyes. " _Not her fault?!_ " the blades around him tensed up, turning their edges towards the other teen. "It's _entirely_ her fault if we are in this situation! She deserves to suffer just like we did!"

Marinette observed this from behind her desk with caution. What the two were saying was complete nonsense to her, but she knew that it had to have some importance if the argument had managed to get Spades' attention. She knew she couldn't simply stay there, she needed to act quickly in order to change the situation. She thought about hitting the sword that Spades was currently on with her yoyo to make him fall to the ground, but wasn't sure that that was a good idea. She didn't know if that that kind of fall would be enough to knock him out, and leaving him with the other Adrien was dangerous since he didn't seem to be on good terms with him.

"We can't blame her for this," she heard him continue. "Not when it's only _our_ fault."

"What the hell are you saying?!" Spades sounded confused, oddly enough. That was a change, Marinette had thought that anger was his only default emotion. "Which side are you even on?"

"I'm not on anyone's side." black eyes locked on with red, determination appearing on the akuma's face. "I only do what I think is right."

This seemed to startle Spades, who was left looking at his other half with wide eyes. "Uh…" he put his hands on his hips, looking now curiously at the other boy. "I wonder… does that make you my enemy?"

"Wh-what? I'm not your-" there was a hint of panic in his voice. Marinette didn't like that.

"If you are not on my side, then you are an enemy." Spades explained. The swords started dancing around him again.

She gripped her yoyo, ready to act.

"And if you are my enemy…" the akuma's red eyes sharpened, anger reappearing in his voice. " _...then it's your fault as well."_

Ladybug's yoyo left her grasp too late. The silver blade was already making its way to the other Adrien, who could not do anything if not stop breathing at the sight of the sharp sword approaching him. Marinette felt air leaving her lungs, a scream echoing throughout the core of the empty building.

 _What happens to akumas if they die?_

Her yoyo impacted with the sword Spades was standing on, immediately forcing it to drop to the ground. She watched as he fell backwards, his hands grasping thin air in a desperate attempt to save himself. His body impacting with the floor made the most horrible sound that one could imagine.  
She rushed to the metal railing at the border of the floor, her hands slamming on it as she leaned her body forward. Her mouth stretched, her eyes already filling themselves with tears.

But she never got to see the gruesome scene that she was expecting. Adrien, the one who had Adrien's eyes, was still on the floor, petrified. His black pupils were as thin as a needle, and his breath was struggling to come out in short, heavy pants. He was looking to his left side, where the swords that should have killed him was resting. Next to it, a pair of headphones lay.

" _Did you just use my headphones to deflect a frigging sword?!"_

The voice, coming from the opposite end of the room from Adrien, was high-pitched and hysteric. Ladybug's mouth dropped as she saw who it belonged to. A rather terrified Nino was holding his head in his hands as he looked at his companion with incredulous eyes. Alya was perfectly still, her arm still stretched out from the moment she had thrown Nino's dearest possession at the sword.

"I… did?" she didn't sound too convinced.

"That wasn't a question, Alya!" the boy continued, now moving his hands in an intricate pattern. "What… How did you even do that?! No, actually- _why_ did you do that?!"

Marinette didn't know what to say. It was not like she thought that she could actually make a complete sentence in her current state, her brain had stopped functioning. _How the heck were Alya and Nino here?_ How did they even manage to surpass the police? She knew that Alya had many amazing abilities, but she never thought that she could actually fool an entire police unit, as she never would have imagined that she could drag Nino into such a mess. Knowing the boy, she probably had to physically drag him there. Her intervention had been spectacular, she had to give her that, but that didn't take away any of the craziness of her actions.  
She didn't know whether she had to bow to her and thank her for all eternity or strangle her.

"Listen," the brown-haired girl started. "I just… did it, okay? Let's just leave it at that. More importantly, I think I kinda saved Adrien's life there."

"I frigging know you did!" Nino was shouting now, jumping on the spot. Marinette couldn't tell if he was happy or just extremely angry. He was most likely just hysteric. "I wouldn't be reacting like this if you hadn't!"

 _Ok, that's it._ She had to talk now, there was no time for children's arguments. Last time she had checked, Spades was still on the ground, and she had yet to check if he was even alive.  
She jumped over the railing, using her weapon to aid her descend to the bottom floor. She welcomed with relief Spade's soft breaths, feeling her heart slowing down its furious dance.

She turned towards the two teens. They were looking at her, a pair of eyes shining with admiration and another begging for someone to stop the nonsense they just had witnessed.

"Ladybug, I-" the young reported started, only to be interrupted by the heroine.

"What the hell are you two doing here?" anger resonated through her voice. The two teens shivered, looking at each other for support. They couldn't know that said anger was caused by extreme worry.

"We.. came here to help," they both said in unison.

" _Help?_ You could have gotten yourselves killed!"

"But so could you," Nino mumbled, his gaze not meeting the heroine's. He closed his hand into a fist and glared up again. His eyes were clear, sincere. "Adrien is our friend. We wanted to help. You don't even know him like we do, and you are risking your own life to save him. We had to do something, too."

Ladybug didn't answer him. Instead, she just turned on her heels, walking straight towards the conscious Adrien. She couldn't help it, Nino's words had completely erased any anger in her. She loved her friends too much to not melt when they talked with their hearts on their sleeves, just as they had done now. Still, she couldn't just make it seem like what they had done was okay, she needed to be harsh. "Please, never do something like this again and go home. I don't need you to get into any more trouble."

She looked at the akuma with tender eyes: his gaze was still fixed on the silver sword that was not so far from him, his breath still struggling to come back to normal. Marinette noticed that he was shaking.

She slowly put a hand on his shoulder, caressing him gently.

"Are you alright?"

The black orbs narrowed a little as he gulped down in an attempt to get a hold of himself. "M-my whole life just passed in front of me," he attempted to chuckle, but a weird cry was all he managed to produce. "It wasn't pretty."

"Don't worry," she reassured him. "Now you are safe. I'll free you."  
She unbuttoned his red cloak to be able to get to the rope behind his back with more ease, tossing it to the side, and noticed that he was wearing an uniform of some sort. The collar was tight around his neck, a single red, heart-shaped button holding it closed, and white lace could be seen escaping from its grasp. The black uniform seemed to be tight around his torso, hard edges sticking out at the height of his shoulders. Golden decorations travelled down the leather-like material on both of its sides, and the upper shirt disappeared the underneath the high-waisted black pants. His boots, weirdly resembling solid hiking shoes, had red soles. What caught her attention, however, were the many rings that were positioned at each of his fingers: all in what seemed to be in pure gold, they followed the structure of the fingers to create a sort of claw. It was possibly the only intimidating thing on his outfit, and it almost seemed to clash with the somewhat soft appearance of it all.

She had decided to help this akuma. Hawkmoth himself had said that he was 'useless and not willing to fight,' and he even seemed to disagree with Spades, so it was clear to her that he would not cause any imminent threat. Plus, she actually needed an akuma to tell her where Chat was, and having one that was willing to cooperate could only be an advantage to her.

 _After all, he still needed to be saved.  
_ The ropes, however, were quite tight and it was hard for her to untie them.

She almost jumped when two figures sat next to her, searching for a way to help her.

"I thought I had told you to go home."

"We are not going home." Alya said, gesturing at the two akumas. "Not until they can come back with us."

Nino offered her the nearby sword, smiling.

She sighed. "I guess there's no way I can send you home, is there?" she poked Adrien in the cheek, grinning as well. "You are very lucky, you know? Not everyone risks their life for their friend."

Adrien smiled, his cheeks slowly reddening. Marinette watched as his eyes softened in the expression she knew so well.

"I know."

"Speaking of your friends," she started cutting the rope that was tying his hands with the swords. "I really want to know how they got here without getting caught by any of the 40 policemen who are outside."

"Oh, that's simple." Alya answered, showing her best grin. "We just made a run for it."

Marinette stopped what she was doing, looking at the girl with incredulous eyes.

"Don't look at me like that, it's true! We knew that the area was secured, so finding a safe way to get in was impossible. We just ran as fast as we could, and we eventually lost them."

"I'm pretty sure they are still searching for us out there…" Nino commented.

"Yeah, that's definitely a possibility." she adjusted her glasses, her teeth still showing through that cute smile of hers. "Oh, by the way, can I film this?"

Ladybug almost laughed. Her friends were reckless, stupid, and extremely ingenious at the same time. She _loved_ them.

"I still can't believe that you guys did that… and the answer is no."

She almost swore out loud when the weapon disappeared from her grasp, silver sparkles left in its place, possibly since it had reached its limit. She had freed Adrien's hands, but his feet were still tied to the chair and tied together as well.

The akuma, however, seemed to be already really grateful for her help, and squirted with delight at the fact that he was actually able to move his hands. He opened and closed his palms repeatedly, and gave the group a warm smile.

Marinette felt her heart melt underneath her superhero suit.

A moan caused her to flinch, however, and she turned towards the only possible source of the sound. Spades was waking up and struggling to get on his feet.  
The hero heard her companions gasp, and she stood up in front of them, ready to protect them. She looked at Alya and Adrien, and then back to Nino.

"Get them out of here," she told him. She knew that she was setting a difficult task for him to fulfill, but she needed him to do everything he could while she bought time for them.  
Silver swords appeared again in the air, this time circling their owner in an uneven pattern.

"Damn you…" he commented as he finally got up. Spades showed them his teeth, red eyes sparkling with hatred. "Damn you all!"

Marinette couldn't wait anymore: she threw her yoyo high up into the air, praying for her to get something that could help her protect her friends. Everyone's lives were on the line now, there was no time to lose.

"Lucky charm!"

She welcomed the small gift she received with disappointment, staring in disbelief at the smoke bomb that was resting in her palms. Luck had different ways of talking to her, and she thought of the objects she received while she called for her own power as the most direct form of communication that her and her own luck had. This time, for her joy, the message was pretty clear.

 _Get the hell out of there._

* * *

 **A/N:** Yes. I am alive. Shocking, right?

Not much to say for this chapter apart from the fact that I haven't even proofread it (I really wanted to publish it) and that it was mostly written while listening to the song "Come" by Jaine.

I hope the length is alright for now, I promised myself that I wouldn't publish this chapter unless it had a decent length. Soooo yeah, I am quite happy that I actually managed to do that, even though I kinda rushed the end :3

As usual, please forgive my bad English and my grammar mistakes, and thank all of you for your amazing support. You guys make me really happy :)

Until next time!


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N:** So, since I've been asked this a lot, I'll do some clarification.

Yes, _there are two Adriens in the room._ There is no Chat. Marinette still thinks he's tied up somewhere else, possibly another building.

The only people in the building are Spades (akumatised!Adrien who is trying to kill Ladybug), an unnamed akumatised!Adrien (the one who was tied to a chair), Nino, Alya, and Ladybug.

I'm sorry if I didn't make this clear enough. If I will ever edit this story in the future I'll make sure to address this problem to make your life (and mine) easier.

Again, I'm so sorry!

Please don't hesitate to ask me anything regarding the story, but also remember that many things that will happen will diverge from canon! So yeah, don't expect them to make sense immediately.

See you at the end of the chapter!

* * *

Alya's scream resonated through the air as silver swords approached her.

Marinette started to spin her yoyo at high speed again, holding the smoke bomb in her free hand. Blocking the blades did not prove itself to be a hard task, as they were all heading towards one direction: the friends that she was so desperately trying to protect.

"Nino!" she called for the boy, still deflecting the last couple of swords. "Hurry up!"

She didn't have time to look at him, but she imagined him nodding and rushing over to Adrien's side to try to free his friend from the tight rope.

"This is so wrong…" she heard Alya mutter at his arrival. "There are two Adrien in the room, both of them are akumatised and one is trying to kill us and _himself_. And if that wasn't messed up enough, Chat Noir is probably still tied up somewhere _and_ Ladybug is struggling. And you know what the worst of this whole mess is?"

"Uhhhh, I'm not sure I wanna know," the boy answered, hands frantically grasping at rope.

"I can't film any of this! I can't hold my phone and help Adrien at the same time!"

Nino watched as his hands dropped to the ground. He felt really stupid, as if he had forgotten who he was talking to for a minute.

"Dude," he started. "If we get out of here alive I'm gonna have a serious talk with you about you and your _frigging sanity because I swear to god you are-_ "

A sword landed not too far away from her, causing the brown-haired girl to squeal. She glanced up at the hero that had been protecting them, her mouth opening and closing in what could have been read as a curse.

"Ah, sorry!" Ladybug apologised. She had to be more careful: only because she could block the blades, that didn't mean that they couldn't hurt her friends as they were deflected. She had to find another strategy to keep them safe, and she had to do it fast.

"That's karma talking to you," Nino continued, the subtle hint of histeria never disappearing from his voice. "If you complain about useless crap then someone is gonna give us a _real_ reason to complain."

Adrien chuckled. Alya frowned, but decided to not complain for the moment; scolding Nino could wait for after they managed to get somewhere less dangerous than where they were.

Another sword fell, this time only slightly dodging the top of Nino's hat. He yelped, now holding said hat and checking if it had been hit.

"What the hell, man?!" he shouted. "I care about this thing!"

"You should care more about your head, you idiot." Alya spat. Revenge was satisfying to her beyond limits, especially if it was towards Nino. She loved the way he would look at her, utterly defeated and tired.

Adrien's black eyes traveled from one rescuer to the other, his hands supporting his own weight as he tried to pull himself up from the ground even if restrained. "I'm… I'm so sorry," his voice was shaky, engulfed by an emotion that the two couldn't really distinguish.

 _He looked so frail._

"I am useless. I can't stop him." He glanced up. "He will never stop, not until he is satisfied."

Alya swallowed. She was ready to bet that said 'satisfaction' meant their funeral.

"I know you don't want to, but you have to leave me here. He will kill you."

For the first time in her whole life, she hated being right.

"I might be spared if I try to talk to him, but you… He won't hold back with you." Adrien closed his eyes, reaching with his free hands for Nino's shirt. "So please, run. Get away from this place. I'll distract him."

" _What?!_ " Nino exploded. Alya joined him.

" _No way!_ "

"Nononono, you don't understand," Nino continued. "I am _not_ getting out of here without you, dude."

"But-"

"No. I escaped four angry policemen to get here, I almost got _killed._ Plus, my headphones were destroyed and someone attempted to take my hat's life. I am not leaving unless you are coming with me." He put a hand on the blond's shoulder. "I am not leaving the best friend I ever had behind."

Adrien bit his lip. Alya watched as his eyes got puffy and his cheeks red, the few lights that illuminated the building reflecting in the now watery black irises. She didn't waste a second: she pulled the akuma back, separating him from his friend. Adrien gasped, confused as he fell backwards, his back meeting again with the so familiar ground.  
In a way, she understood his urge to cry, as he probably had been under a lot of stress. His capture had shaken him and, while he had been holding up quite well during the past minutes, Nino's words must have made him reach his limit. She didn't want to imagine what his past hours had been like.

But that didn't matter, because Adrien was not crying. Not under her watch.

"Look, I mean all he said - minus the bromance of course." She heard a confused ' _Bro-what?!'_ echo in the distance. She ignored it. "But we don't have time for this. So please tell me, is there any way we can reason with… well, _you_?"

He cleaned his eyes with his hands, his golden claws getting too close to his eyelids for her comfort. She wondered how sharp those things actually were, since he had not even considered using them to free himself.

"No. He won't listen, no matter what you tell him. He's too angry."

"Okay," the girl started to work again on the rope, this time a little more exasperated than before. "Then, why is he mad?"

Adrien blinked at that, confused. "Why would you want to know that?"

"If we know why he's mad then maybe we can do something about it."

The akuma didn't answer immediately. His gaze lowered, a serious expression now appearing on his face. "Being mad is his default state of being. There is nothing else he can feel."

Alya frowned: that didn't exactly answer her question. Of course, he might have still said the truth, but that didn't change the fact that she didn't like that. Not one bit.

"And by that you mean?" Nino asked, now joining the conversation.

"I mean what I said," Adrien stated. "Anger and hatred are the only thing Spades can feel."

They were dealing with a killing machine, then. _Just what they needed._

A sword landed again next to the akumatised boy, metal clashing against the cold floor. The three turned around, fear printed on their faces, only to meet an exhausted Ladybug, currently spinning her yoyo in front of them.

* * *

Her forehead was dripping with sweat, just as her hands were. Holding the string of her weapon was becoming harder and harder, as it would slip away from her grasp every now and then. She had given up on her legs, and decided to accept the stinging pain as a way to deduce that she was still alive.  
Her blue eyes watched with concern as the akuma in front of her jumped, more lively than ever. Silver swords were thrown as he traveled with each step, forcing her to run after him.

She swallowed, sealing her mouth shut. Her throat ached, but she did her very best to keep breathing normally.

" _Is that all you've got?!_ "

The akuma's mocking wasn't welcomed by her ears, but she didn't have the heart to disagree with him. She was really giving everything she had, and she only had 3 minutes before her transformation wore off.

 _She wasn't going to last long._

* * *

"This is bad…" Nino commented, hands now holding his head. "This is really, _really_ bad!"

Alya ignored him as she grabbed for the sword that had fallen by Adrien's side. She liked Nino, she wasn't ashamed of admitting it, but he was useless when it came to situations like this one. While he was quite brave, he needed more time to process what was happening around him in order to overcome the initial shock.

She, on the other side, stopped caring altogether when her brain panicked.

The rope of the remaining restrained foot was cut, freeing it from the chair; the only thing left to cut was now the rope that linked the two feet together, leaving Adrien only able to take small steps without tripping over his own feet.  
The logical consequential action would have been to not waste any time and cut it apart, making it possible for the group to make a quick escape. Unfortunately for Adrien, there was no way Alya was going to do that.

The akuma watched her in horror as she threw the sword away, the silver sparkles that signaled its disappearance enlightening for a brief moment the cold floor.

"Why... didn't you free me?"

"Yeah Alya," Nino joined him. She was getting tired of his hysteric tone. "Why the _hell_ didn't you free him?"

"That's because he lied to me. Or better, he hasn't been fully honest."

She turned to the akuma, who seemed to be confused.

 _She wasn't buying that._

"Did you think I would not notice that? When I asked you why Spades would be mad you avoided answering my question." She got to his level, kneeling down to him. "As far as I am concerned, you are hiding something from us, and last time I've checked, you are also an akuma. That makes you an _akuma_ who is _deliberately_ withholding information from us and, therefore, a possible threat."

Brown eyes stared at pitch black. Alya was good at this, and she _knew it._

" _There's no way I'm trusting you._ "

She expected a frown, maybe anger to appear on the blond's face. She never could have anticipated an apology. Adrien's shoulder instead raised, his head sinking between them while he directed his gaze towards the ground.

"I'm sorry."

He hadn't faltered, there was no uncertainty behind his words. What he was offering them was a simple, honest-sounding apology.

"I understand what you mean, and I'm so, so sorry if I lied to you, but I don't have time to justify myself here. There's more important things that we need to do." His glance now travelled behind them, where Ladybug was still fighting. "I won't complain and I promise that I won't give you any trouble, so please… let's just get out of here. I'll explain what I can later on."

Nino studied his friend, then asked for his partner's opinion.

"Should we trust him?"

"No," Alya sighed, massaging her temples. "we shouldn't and we won't for as long as he doesn't decide to be completely honest with us."

Adrien didn't comment at that: he had accepted the fact that he was not to be trusted and, while it was obvious that he didn't like that, he was willing to put that aside for another time. After all, a lie was a lie, and their lack of faith in him was more than justified.

"But we can't leave him here, either." The girl continued, hands resting on her hips. "So go ahead, Nino. Pick him up."

This caused the named boy to blink at her and point at his own self, extremely confused.

" _Pick him up?_ Me?"

"Yes, you." Alya gestured his tied ankles, somewhat surprised. "Does it look like he would be fast enough to actually escape? Someone's going to have to carry him, and that's not going to be me."

"But he's too heavy! And also tall! How am I supposed to do that?"

"He's a model. He's lighter than he looks."

"Actually…" Adrien added. "That's not true for ever-"

"Shut up." the brown-haired girl interrupted. "Heavy or not, _you_ have to do it, Nino."

"But…!"

Nino hated her. And loved her. But right now, he definitely hated her. Seeing her boss him around with that cheerful tone of hers was something he was never going to get used to.

He almost screamed when she turned around, hands at the edges of her mouth.

"LADYBUUUG!" She shouted. "WE ARE READY!"

The heroine turned slightly towards them, muttering something that had to be a word of agreement. She seemed relieved, happy that she could finally get away from the endless fight with Spades.

Nino was complaining in the background, mildly insulting Adrien regarding something she didn't know, and the latter was showering him with loud apologies. Ladybug got a glimpse of Alya, standing next to the boy with her arms crossed as he carried the akuma on his shoulders.

She faced her opponent again just as her earrings beeped for the third time.

 _Only two minutes left._

Ladybug diversified her strategy: from a defensive stand, she charged. She waited for Spades to run out of blades to approach him at high speed, holding her yoyo in her free hand to prepare for an attack.

"Changing approach?" He questioned, evidently amused. His smirk didn't suit his face. " _I like this!"_

The akuma prepared himself, extracting another silver sword from his left palm. He grabbed it, giving out a battle cry as he jumped on Ladybug, ready to hit her.

But she never gave him the chance. Her leg raised as her yoyo disarmed him, and she sent him flying to to the floor. She ignored his strained cough and she pressed the tiny button on the spotted smoke bomb, making a little ball fall from the bottom of the object.

Spades cursed at its sight, still on the ground. She knew that she wasn't supposed to, but Ladybug pitied him as she threw herself out of the first window she could see, shattering it in thousands of glass shards. After all, she had just thrown a smoke ball right at Adrien's face, she couldn't expect to forgive herself so easily for that.

She threw the now empty spotted container to the sky, watching as pink butterflies entered the building to repair the damage of the fight. Behind her, a wall of smoke was slowly making its way up to the already grey sky.

"Here!" She heard Alya shout from not too far away. She was standing next to Nino, who had dropped Adrien to the ground. "We are here!"

She rushed to them, gritting her teeth. She picked up Adrien from the ground with no effort and settled him on her shoulder as she ran towards a side road, a poorly lighted alley not too distant. Nino frowned at that.

Ladybug heard the two follow behind her, panting. They were decently close to her considering that her legs barely touched the ground for how fast they were moving. She never thanked Tikki enough for her enhanced abilities.

She came to a halt when she thought she was far enough, a high-pitched beep reminding her of her urgency.

 _One minute._

"Alya," she said, still panting. "My transformation is about to wear off, I have to leave. I want you to take Nino and Adrien away from here. Don't stop. Keep going as fast as you can, turn at random. Make it hard for him to find you."

She carefully dropped the akuma to the ground, watching as he slowly stood up. Her head then moved who Alya, who seemed to have doubts.

"Wait… how will we contact you? We can't just deal with Adrien without your help!"

"Contact Marinette." She blurted out before she could even think about something else to say. "She will explain everything."

The hero left a rather confused Alya behind, racing for another distant alley. She almost tripped over her own feet when Tikki finally gave out, releasing her from her transformation.

The little kwami groaned, exhausted.

"M-marinette…"

"I know Tikki." She held the small deity in her hands, keeping her close to her chest. "I'll bring you home now."

Yes, that was the only place she could bring her to: home. The pale sun hidden by the clouds was setting, no shop would be open now, and the kwami needed to rest. Marinette wished she could catch a breath too, but realised that she didn't have that luxury; she still had three friends to save.

' _Contact Marinette,'_ she had said. ' _She will explain.'_ Well, that had been a great way of getting Alya off her back just a minute ago, but she now realised that she didn't _know_ what to exactly explain. The only solution that could come to her mind at the moment was to make up yet another lie, something that she did not like but recognised as necessary.

As she rushed into the early train in the subway, her mind traveled back to the events that had just occurred.

Spades' smile haunted her.

Marinette wished she could say that she was stronger than that, but she couldn't help but feel horrified at what Hawkmoth had turned the usually loving and sweet boy she held so dear into. Such hatred and violence was something that could not belong to Adrien, and yet she had just witnessed him being one of the most dangerous akumas she had ever faced. There had to be a reason for him to have been like that, and Marinette wasn't sure she wanted to know it.

And, just to make things worse, Chat Noir was still nowhere to be found.

In other words, she was worried _sick_.

She rushed over to one of the many empty seats, settling down with ease. Resting her legs, even if only for a couple of minutes, felt nice. Her eyes scanned the wagon, and she smiled at the realisation that she was alone. She opened her purse, lying Tikki gently on its bottom, and left it open. The kwami was exhausted, she was aware of that, but she still had some questions for her and, while she wasn't brave enough to let her rest in the open air, she figured that she would only look like she was talking to her purse if someone entered from another van.

"Tikki…" she called for her, gently. Guilt ran over her as she saw the small being open her eyes with fatigue. "I know you are tired, but there is something I really don't understand and I need your help."

"It's about Adrien...isn't it?" Her voice was faint, but still maintained her normal sweetness.

Marinette nodded.

"I just don't understand… there were two versions of him there. Is that even possible?"

"Technically, it is, but I don't know enough about his power to understand how he got split into two. Akumas work in very different ways from our Miraculous, Marinette. Sometimes it's hard also for beings like us to understand what we don't fully know."

"The fact that they have different abilities is what scares me the most." The girl held her purse tighter, concern showing through her eyes. "If it was just two versions of a similar akuma I'd assume that he had the ability of making copies of himself, but they are completely different one to the other. What if he was like Alix? What if the two versions of himself came from two different futures?"

"If one of them came from the future then they'd be identical." Tikki tried to stand up, but failed. Even if her energy had been completely drained by the last battle, this matter concerned her enough to try to take it seriously. "It has to be something else… but I don't know what."

Marinette glanced away, nervous; she was not sure she could help Adrien if she didn't know how it worked first. She had a special power, and she didn't know how to use it.

She was useless once again.

Her stop arrived soon enough and Marinette found herself out in the street. The street lights were now brightening the moonless night, and she almost didn't recognise her house because of the many thoughts that were bombarding her head, distracting her.

She sneaked inside, heading for the kitchen, and grabbed as many cookies as she could. She sincerely hoped she hadn't accidentally crushed her kwami underneath them.

It was only then that she noticed that her phone was ringing. She wasn't surprised when she was greeted by an angry Alya.

"MARINETTE, WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?"

"A-Alya?!" Her phone almost fell out of her hands. "Are you okay?! Where are you?"

"I am, surprisingly. Mari, you'll _never_ guess what happened."

"I… I already know, Alya."

"You do?" Her friend almost screamed in the receiver. "How?!"

Marinette breathed in, preparing herself.

 _Time to lie._

"Ladybug told me. You know how you left me alone after I started crying? Well, after that I may or may not have tried to join you in your rescue for Adrien, but Ladybug caught me." Little by little, she felt herself dying inside. This was not going to work; Alya was smart, she was never going to believe that. "She told me to go home, and I did."

Silence was everything she could hear coming from the other side. She took it as a hint to keep going.

"And after that… she came to me again. I was watching the news, worried sick about you guys, and then she came. It wasn't that so long ago. I don't know, ten minutes, maybe? Anyways, she told me everything and asked me to help you."

The fact that Alya wasn't answering her was genuinely scaring her now.

She _knew_ she wouldn't have buyed it.

"Alya?" She called for her again.

She heard a long sigh from the other side. Marinette didn't know why, but it sounded… happy.

"Did you record her?" The question was flat.

"N-no! I didn't think about it!"

She was about to _stop breathing_.

"Damn. Shame. You'll have to tell me _everything_ she said, okay?"

Marinette couldn't believe it. _It had worked_. She, the most terrible actress on the entire planet, had managed to spit out a lie that had fooled one of the smartest person she knew. She didn't know if she was supposed to feel proud about that.

"Of course."

"So, can you come get us?" Alya asked.

"Ehmm, if you mean by _foot_ , then sure. Where are you anyway?"

"I'll send you the address via text, but could you please bring us a coat or something? Mr Akuma's uniform and black eyeliner-eyeshadow thingy do not go unnoticed. I don't want anyone to see us."

There was some sort of complaint coming from the other side, but it wasn't loud enough for her to understand it.

"We'll hide him at my place. The other guy, Spades, was it? He's still searching for him, but he doesn't know I'm involved in this."

More noise could be heard in the background, this time louder and insistent.

"He'll take _baby steps_ , okay? I don't care!" The journalist snapped. "Anyways, that sounds great. We are hiding behind a trash bin and - _Nino, shut up and stop complaining! -_ it looks like it's about to rain and _honestly_ , I'm just really… really tired. Please come soon."

"I'll be there as soon as I can." She chuckled. "Tell Nino to hold on for a little longer, okay?"

"Great. And Mari… thank you." Her friend breathed in, seeming more relaxed now. "You are saving us."

 _No,_ she thought. _You are saving_ me.

"Don't mention it. See you in a bit!"

Marinette sank into her kitchen chair as she put her phone down. Her parents were downstairs, working until late to finish a last minute order, and hopefully hadn't heard anything she had just said. As far as they knew, she was going to have friends coming over tonight.

"That went well!" Tikki said, emerging from her purse.

She smiled. She walked over her dad's closet, grabbing a long raincoat. Nothing she owned could fit someone as tall as Adrien, and her father's raincoat would be perfect to hide the boy's features.

"Yeah," she replied. She headed for the door, grabbing a couple of umbrellas on her way.

" _It did._ "

* * *

For Alya's joy, it started to rain. It wasn't heavy yet, but that didn't mean that it couldn't destroy what was left of her good mood.

Technically, she should have been the happiest person alive: she had managed to fight alongside Ladybug, her beloved hero. Too bad that she couldn't feel her legs for how much she had run.

Nino groaned, looking at the sky in frustration. He was walking up and now the dark alley, obviously still terrified by the possibility of being found out at any moment.

"When will she be here?!" He asked. "How long has it been? 20 minutes?"

"Maybe she's lost…" Adrien mumbled.

The akuma was sitting on the ground just next to her, legs stretched on the asphalt. Alya didn't know if akumas could get tired, but she certainly wasn't imagining the dark shadows underneath his eyes.

"Everything would have been easier if _someone_ " Nino's head hinted at her direction, "had decided to free Adrien. But noooooo, we had to keep him tied and have him take ' _baby steps'_ instead!"

She didn't even bother answering him. An annoyed glance was all he deserved, and therefore it was all he received. She was not going to free Adrien. Not until she was sure that he wasn't a threat.

Nino seemed to read her mind.

"He's not going to do anything. His hands have been free for the past hour and he hasn't attacked us. Plus, he needs us. I don't think he wants to end up tied up again."

Alya gave him again the silent treatment.

"Alya," he kneeled in front of her. "I know you want to protect us, but _please_. It's still Adrien we are talking about. I trust him."

"Do you trust him as much as the one who almost decapitated you?" She grimaced. "Because if so, please go ahead and untie him."

The DJ raised his eyebrows.

"Are you really comparing him to that Spades guy? Alya, they are totally different!"

"He's an _akuma_ who's been _lying_ to us!"

"He's also our _friend_!"

"GUYS!" Adrien broke in. His knees were now held close to his chest and he seemed to be shaking a little. "Please… please don't argue because of me."

Both of his friends shushed at that. They observed him, noticing how pained his expression was and got concerned over his trembling.

Nino approached him, kneeling now in front of him.

"Are you cold?"

The teen bit his lip as a response.

"Don't worry buddy," the other boy reassured him, patting him on his shoulders. "Soon enough we'll get you somewhere warm with something to eat."

"That sounds _so_ nice right now…!" Alya commented.

"You guys…" Adrien snuffled. "You are so nice."

 _Was he crying?_

No, not yet, but he was about to. Nino didn't like that, but didn't interfere. He imagined Adrien had been through a lot today, and understood if he had the need to cry. After all, they knew so little about the situation that they only thing they could do was support him.

"I love you guys so much," he continued, getting a little hold of himself. "I'm so sorry…"

Nino didn't even have the time to smile at that. Before he knew it, he was grabbed by the neck.

* * *

 **A/N:** Alya and Nino argue like a married couple.

They don't, but I like to pretend that they do.

Just saying, Adrien is going to be a little OOC here. I'll explain why next chapter, don't want to give out too much info to you guys ( ù . ù )

It's 3am. Again.

...I have to stop doing this to myself.

This came out decently long, which makes me happy, but more words means more possible mistakes, so please endure them for me.

Thank you again for supporting this project! Any feedback makes me so happy that it makes me smile like an idiot for a good 10 minutes ahahaha

Thank you again !

Nami


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N:** Many things will be already cleared up during this and the next chapter! Enjoy!

* * *

When Marinette entered the alley, Adrien and Nino were kissing.

Or better, _Adrien_ was kissing Nino.

The blond was sitting on the ground, his hair still pulled back and wet because of the rain. He was holding the other boy, a hand resting at the back of his head and the other holding the side of Nino's left cheek. Lips against lips, he seemed serene: his eyes were closed, and his cheeks slightly red as he enjoyed the chaste kiss.

Nino, on the other side, was completely still. He wasn't blinking even though his eyes were wide open while staring at his friend in utter shock, and he was not breathing. His arms were spread at his sides, his fingers twitching in a desperate attempt to do something, _anything_ to get out of that situation.

Marinette wanted to scream. The umbrellas she had carefully collected were all dropped to the ground, the raincoat and her own umbrella avoiding the same fate because they were being held by the only hand that hadn't given up on life.

 _What the fuck_.

 _What. The. Fuck._

Something inside her cracked.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" She screamed.

Her mouth had never stretched so much, but she couldn't blame herself for that: who she had to blame was Nino. Nino, the friend she cared so much for and that had _kissed Adrien Agreste.  
_ Before she knew it, her grip on the poor umbrella's handle had become exceedingly strong, possibly because she was picturing something else that she could hold in that same way.

Her scream triggered something in Alya, who stood up outraged as she grabbed both boys by the collar. She pulled Nino by her, while forcing Adrien to stand up.

"HANDS OFF, BLONDIE." She tossed him brutally away. " _What is wrong with you?!_ "

The named akuma struggled to keep his balance, tripping over his own feet because of his tied ankles, and ended up standing awkwardly in front of Marinette.

Her eyes were soulless as she watched him notice her presence, black ponds sparkling with joy. A little redness was still adorning his otherwise pale cheeks.

"Marinette!" He opened his arms as if he expected a hug. "You finally came!"

Dread was slowly washing any bit of her consciousness away, realisation kicking in.

Adrien Agreste had feelings for Nino.

This was a battle she couldn't win. Adrien would never like her, and she couldn't force him to go against his own nature. She'd have to be the good friend who understands and respects their own boundaries, burying her own feelings somewhere so that he wouldn't see them.

"I'm so happy you are here! You guys really are amazing, with all you are doing for me."

The love of her life was talking, but she wasn't listening. She was also ignoring the incomprehensible screams coming from behind him, even if those were really loud and hysterical-sounding. Her throat was tensed, her mouth closed.

Two cold hands touched her cheeks, golden claws brushing lightly against her temples. Adrien chuckled, a little sadness present in his voice.

"I just... don't know how to thank you enough."

Marinette found herself being kissed.

Cold lips pressed on her own, while one of the boy's hands moved to the back of her neck.

The other hand gave up as well, and the umbrella fell to the ground, followed by her father's raincoat.

Rain started to fall on her face as her body temperature raised at high speed, her shoulders tensing. One word made its way through her messy thoughts: it was hopeful, unsure and scared. _Bisexual_.

Marinette didn't think about it for too long however, another realisation turning her reality upside down. _She wasn't enjoying the kiss._ She had expected her first kiss to be something special, something that could have described as fireworks lighting up a beautiful summer's sky at night. Instead, she realised that she wasn't feeling anything apart from extreme confusion, embarrassment, and stress.

She was shocked. Part of her still couldn't understand how she had managed to get kissed by _Adrien Agreste_ and was enthusiastically analysing her situation, but something in the back of her mind told her that there was something wrong with what had happened. This didn't resemble any of her fantasies, it felt… rushed. Unwanted.

He pulled away, a peaceful smile on his lips.

"You smell sweet," he noticed, his eyes still locked on her lips. "Like a pastry that has just come out of the oven. I like it."

She was not going to lie to herself and say that the kiss or the look he was giving her weren't affecting her at all, because they were, and _hard_. Her head was spinning now, and the hand that was still clapped to her cheek had become the only thing that allowed her to stand straight. She didn't even dare to imagine how red she was.  
Adrien's words, his eyes… everything was too good to be true, and yet she couldn't bring herself to enjoy it as she wanted to. She had been kissed by someone who hadn't bothered to see if that was what she wanted as well.

Just as her mind raced through her battling emotions, a hand emerged from behind the boy, pulling him back. Adrien fell again to the ground, yelping in pain. An angry Alya towered him from behind.

" _What the hell?!"_ she was trying to contain her volume, but was greatly failing. "What was that for?!"

The akuma turned to face her, still sitting on the wet asphalt. He frowned.

"Are you… are you mad at me?"

That was a useless question, really. Alyal's arms crossed on her chest and she eyed the boy as her brows furrowed.

That was enough to frighten him, and Adrien brought his knees up, tense. "I'm sorry. I did not- I did not mean to make you mad. Um, is it…" his black eyes were as thin as needles, and he had turned pale again at Alya's unchanging glare. "Is it because I didn't kiss you too?"

He didn't receive an answer. All he got were amber eyes staring back at him with anger.

"I can fix that?" he panicked.

That clearly wasn't the right thing to say to an angry Alya. She gritted her teeth and raised her arm, clearly angered and ready to hurt the akuma in front of her, but Marinette saw it coming from a mile away. She did not know with what strength or will she was able to move towards her, but she grabbed her friend's arm and pulled her back just before she could actually do anything to Adrien..

"What are you doing?" Alya pulled away from her grip, taking a step back.

She didn't know. She was just so, so confused, but she knew that what her friend was about to do was wrong. Violence was never to be used.

"Why are you stopping me when this _akuma_ " the name came out almost in a spat from Alya, "is trying to mess with us? Are you all blind or something?"

What was she supposed to answer her? She didn't have a justification for Adrien's behaviour, and yet she couldn't bring herself to believe that he was not to be trusted. Even after what he had done to her and Nino he looked just scared and confused, and Marinette just couldn't imagine him having any sort of ill intent towards them.

She struggled to get her words out.

"I agree he's acting strange, but I don't think.. he's not.."

"He _broke_ Nino _!"_ Alya screamed back. Her hands gestured to the named teen, who had not moved of an inch since the 'accident.' Marinette had to actually look at him for a little longer to confirm that he was breathing and that he wasn't dead. It was like his brain had completely stopped functioning. "And he's kissed you probably to get you startled, and..."

Marinette breathed in. Alya would not let her talk, she had understood that. She thought that she was protecting her and Nino from some sort of danger, meaning that she would not allow her to have any say in the matter.

She wasn't surprised when she heard her continue, gesticulating violently.

"And I just can't allow that, Mari. Not when I know how much that means to you." Her head turned again towards Adrien, and she bit her lip just to hold herself from doing anything to the boy. "He's just a disgusting akuma trying to use you all by getting under your skin in a way that has to be the stupidest idea anyone has ever had."

She had to despise him a lot, and Marinette was terrified of that. She didn't know exactly Adrien's situation, but she was sure that he needed more allies than enemies.

"Really though," the girl was now addressing the akuma directly, and her angry tone caused him to shrink even more. He looked like he wanted to disappear. "What were you thinking, kissing Nino of all people?"

Black eyes seeked refuge on the ground, avoiding her intense glare.

"Marinette I understand. It's a low, disgusting move, but I see how having her on your side would give you some advantages. But Nino? Did you really think it was going to work?" She clicked her tongue. "Pathetic and stupid, that's what you are. I'll make sure you learn that before you will even think of messing with my friends again."

The threat sent a chill down Marinette's spine. Alya was not kidding, she was really planning on making Adrien pay for the wrong she thought he had done to them. She had to intervene somehow, stop her by telling her that what had happened was not that bad. She would have to lie and tell her that that kiss hadn't had any impact on her even though it so clearly had.

"Alya," she tried to sound convincing. "I know you are upset, but this is not what we should be doing right now."

"That's right, Mari. _We are wasting time here_ , is that what you were going to say?" The girl adjusted her glasses. "But you know, I don't think that listening to his pity talk would be any better, even though you and Nino seem to be so obsessed on doing that."

"No!" She attempted to protest. "What we need to do right now… what he needs…" It was hard for her to talk when she knew who she was standing up against. She never was any good at handling an aggressive Alya.

"What Marinette is trying to say is that what he needs is a safe place where to stay and some rest, my dude."

She looked in the direction of the voice, only to see Nino slowly making his way towards them. He had finally woken up from his trance, and now seemed to be willing to take her side in the argument. Unfortunately, it was not like that could make the situation any better: at least four people were needed to calm Alya down.

Nevertheless, the young reporter seemed relatively pleased to see that his brain was alive and kicking. Of course, that didn't stop her from arguing with him.

"What he needs is to be interrogated and freed from the akuma."

Nino sighed, scratching his neck. "Alya, you have to chill with this whole _punish-the-akuma_ thing, it's honestly getting out of control here."

"Ah, yes! Please keep enlightening us with your whole buddy-buddy talk, Nino!" The sarcasm in her voice was so thick that it almost made Marinette nervous. "Because that's helped sooooo much until now, right?"

To Marinette's surprise, Nino did not lose his composure at that. He simply approached Alya, getting between her and Adrien.

"I don't think you understand what I'm talking about, dude."

The reporter raised a brow at that. "Is there anything to understand in the first place?"

"Yes, many things actually. There's a difference between what you are doing and what I have been trying to explain to you." Alya stayed silent, and Marinette thanked god she hadn't decided to interrupt Nino. "You treat Adrien like an evil-genius dude who's gonna wait until the last second to turn his back on us. That's what you see, right?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Alya nodded, not sure where he wa going with what he was saying.

"I only see someone who needs _help._ Because come on Alya, it's true that I'm Adrien's best buddy, but you can't seriously tell me that you think he's been acting like he usually does. Spoiler alert by the way, he hasn't. I've seen the face he's doing right now only a couple of times on the guy, and that was only when he was completely out of it."

Brown eyes widened, whether in disbelief or mockery, Marinette didn't know.

"Is that your excuse? Really?"

"I dunno," Nino shrugged. "That sounded pretty good to me considering that the first time we saw him he was tied to a chair against his will, right?"

He took one step towards her. She backed away, unsure on how to answer him. Marinette breathlessly watched as Nino's strong, confident and yet casual figure towered her friend.

"I mean, it's not like you would expect him to be completely fine after something like that," he continued. "Oh, and let's not forget that for all we know he could even be drugged. Sounds pretty nasty, doesn't it."

Silence fell, and the sound of the rain took the place of the words. Marinette watched as Alya's shoulders relaxed, her eyes closed as she slowly breathed out.  
She had finally given up.

"What do you say we do, then?" There was still a bit of irritation in her voice, but nothing that Marinette or Nino weren't used to.

"We talk to him," he simply stated.

He didn't wait for her to say anything else, he turned around to face Adrien. His eyes softened at the sight of his friend, wet because of the rain and shivering because of the cold. His thick locks almost hid perfectly his scared black eyes, and his mouth was pressed in a thin, silent line. Nino had the best intentions, and yet Marinette could tell that he was a bit uncomfortable when he kneeled down in front of his friend.

"So.." he fidgeted a little, unsure of what to say. "How are you, Adrien?"

He didn't get an answer.

"For real, this time. I'm not gonna be okay with your usual _I'm good_ , buddy. Not today."

Nothing changed.

Nino looked back, probably searching for some sort of support, but only found a puzzled Marinette and an unsure Alya. He was alone in this.

"Dude, listen to me." He took a deep breath. "I wanna help you, okay Adrien?"

Cold lips moved, but the sound their produced didn't manage to reach his ears.

"What did ya say?"

The akuma shifted. "I'm… Hearts." He held onto his knees tight. "The King of Hearts. P-please call me that."

Alya flinched. Marinette watched as every muscle of her body tensed up, only to realise that she had unconsciously done the same. They were getting somewhere.

"Okay," Nino continued with a small smile. "Okay. Hearts, how are you feeling?"

"I'm… cold."

The small answer had to had filled him with joy, because he instantly turned to Marinette with such radiant eyes that she had to convince herself to stop staring at his smile to actually do what he had asked of her. With little, delicate steps, she proceeded to get over where her father's raincoat had been dropped to the ground and picked it up.

"It's a little wet," she said as she handled it to the akuma with care. "But I hope it will do."

"Thanks." He offered her a smile before putting it on, and Marinette felt her cheeks suddenly getting warmer. There was something about him, about his defenseless behaviour that completely disarmed her. The fact that she could still feel his lips on hers did not help her hiding her flustered face, but he did not seem to mind it too much.

As Hearts started to rub his hands on his arms, Nino continued his chat.

"Hearts, I will be asking you a couple of questions now. Would it be okay for you to do that?"

"I want to help. I'll.. I'll answer what I can." The blond nodded.

"Perfect, my dude. Now, I really don't know how to put this, but I think that we all need to know this here…" he scratched the back of his neck, and suddenly Marinette already knew what he was going to ask him. "Why did you… err, kiss us?"

Hearts looked surprised at the question, as if it was not what he was expecting. "Oh," he got a strand of hair away from his eyes. "That?"

Nino couldn't do anything but just nod and look away. God, this was getting awkward.

"It's because I love you. Isn't that obvious?"

Marinette stopped breathing, Alya almost managed to trip even though she was standing still, and Nino's face seemed to threaten another brain malfunction if things kept going that way.

"Y-yeah, right." He managed to get out in a choked laugh. He was trying _so hard_ to keep his cool, Marinette admired that of him. "Who are you talking about, dude?"

"All of you. I love all of you." He stared with innocence at their confused and horrified expressions. "You kiss the people you love to prove it to them. To prove you care." His tender smile dropped as he realised something. "I'm sorry Alya, I was going to kiss you next, but you got mad at me and…" He frowned, and Marinette had to hold herself from hugging the boy because of how sad he looked. "...I'm sorry. I didn't want to get you mad, I promise I will do better next time."

No one knew what he was exactly promising, but the threat of said promise seemed enough to shake Alya to her very core. Her eyes widened and her mouth was left slightly opened; she didn't even know what to say.

That did not seem to calm Hearts down, and a new wave of concern washed over his gentle features.

"You still love me… right?"

The silence filled again the small alley, and the akuma shivered. His face had lost every bit of colour as he tried to hold back small moans, his hands stopping to caress his own arms for warmth.

"Right?"

Alya just stared at her helpless friend, completely frozen. Her eyes darted to Nino, reality strucking her all at once: she was standing in front of someone who had been held hostage for god knew how many hours and that was in extreme need of help, and she had doubted that. She had accused the signals that he had sent them, the little cries and his unstableness, to be lies. She felt horrible and stupid, and yet she didn't know how to amend to her mistake.

"Please answer me, I… I don't know what I would do if you didn't love me."

This was not normal. This was not something Adrien would ever, ever say and that scared Marinette to no end. She was aware that some akumas had a drastic change in their personalities because of Hawkmoth's magic, but she had never seen something of this kind. No akuma that she recalled had such sadness and emptiness in their eyes, no one looked like they would just sit back and let the world destroy them without fighting back.  
No one seemed so desperate for affection and approval.

Adrien looked dead at the moment, as if he was waiting for someone's judgement. His eyes and his body language… everything seemed off, broken and utterly wrong. Marinette wanted to throw herself at him to try and fix him, to give him back a sparkle of life in his dead eyes, but he looked so delicate and weak that she was afraid of breaking him. The thought that he could have so much fear and sadness in him was horrifying.

Alya still couldn't find the strength to answer him and Marinette didn't blame her: what was there to answer to someone that was clearly so… messed up? This was not okay. This was not normal.

"I said I'm sorry," the akuma continued, his voice shaky. "Alya, I'm sorry!"

The girl made an attempt to answer, and her lips moved slightly, but what came out of her mouth was not any louder than Heart's scared sobs.

"I'm sorry," tears started to fall down his face, mixing with the rain, while angry hands held his head. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

Nino decided that he had had enough of this. He jumped in his friend's arms, holding him tight and causing him to stop his whimpers. His hands were delicate around his fragile frame, and he tried to embrace as much of his friend as he could.

He was shielding him.

"It's okay." Nino's voice was gentle, but not steady. Seeing Adrien like this had had a great impact on him. "It's okay now. We all love you here and we won't hurt you."

Marinette held the strand of her purse as he talked. She watched as Hearts' eyes lost a bit of their emptiness, and his body started to react to the friend that was pressed against him. It was almost as if he had only noticed now Nino's presence.

"We all love you. You are safe here," he repeated reassuringly.

Hearts' sobs stopped. He closed his eyes, breathing normally, and nodded. He was forced to look again at his friend only when the latter distanced himself from him, still holding dearly onto his shoulders.

"Hearts… what day is it?"

The akuma only stared back at him, confused.

"What day is it today?" Nino repeated.

He realised too late that Hearts simply hadn't replied because he didn't know what answer to give him.

"I don't know."

"When was the last time you had something to drink or eat?"

"I don't know."

Marinette's heart ached. She wanted to crawl on the wet asphalt and scream, curse the man who had hurt his friend this much. But she didn't. Instead, she just watched Alya crying as tears made their way down her cheeks as well.

"How long… how long were you…?"

Nino couldn't finish: he choked on his own words. Marinette knew, however, knew what he wanted to ask him.

 _How long were you tied up against your will?_

Hearts seemed to understand as well, and he shook his head.

"I don't know."

That was the last straw. Anger finally took over her, and Marinette found her body violently shaking. She approached the two boys with such speed that Adrien almost jumped back, startled by her sudden appearance. The little reminder of his constant state of fear only fueled her fury.

 _She would kill him._

 _She would kill Hawkmoth._

Her hand reached out to the two boys, pulling them up with encouraging strength.

"We are going home," she said. "Now."

Alya woke up from her daze of self-hatred, and hurried to pick up the umbrellas that Marinette had abandoned on the ground not too long ago. She was still sniffling, and every now and then her hands would reach out to wipe away an old tear, but Marinette admired her strength and her will to help.

Once an umbrella was handled to her, Marinette opened it, shielding herself from the rain. She found it quite useless since they were all completely soaked anyway, but didn't complain: the umbrellas were a good way to hide Hearts' features, and none of them had the strength necessary to deal with someone who could recognise him.

Hearts walked at Nino's side, holding onto his arm as if his life depended on it. His eyes never left the ground as they walked at his slow pace due to his tied ankles, and no one managed to get out a word during the short trip to the metro. In all honestly, she would have liked to be the one holding and comforting, but didn't trust herself to do so and thanked Nino for his surprising courage. She was still shaking.

She had hoped all the anger and frustration would leave her once she had reached home. She wasn't surprised when that didn't happen. She let everyone inside, gesticulating to them to be silent: her parents did not know they were there after all and she would have to wait until tomorrow to find a good excuse that could save her ass. One after the other, everyone took off their shoes, left the umbrellas by the door and headed upstairs to her room. Hearts did not take off her father's coat, making his short trip to the stairs a little difficult: her father's raincoat was way too large for him and all of his movements had become more clumsy and cute. She didn't bother asking him to take it off, imagining that it was still helpful to him for keeping him warm.

Once she got to her room, she found Nino settling Hearts down on her small sofa, while Alya had disappeared from her sight to search for a pillow and a blanket. She smiled at the sight, and proceeded to sit down at the side of the blond. He still looked nervous, and his eyes would dart from one side to the room to another, searching for something that she didn't know.

She traced little circles on his arm, reassuring him. His ankles were still restrained, as she hadn't had time to find something to break the rope as of now. She thought of how Nino had calmed Hearts down, and decided to do the same.

"We all love you. You are safe here, Hearts."

Black eyes locked onto hers just when Alya reappeared by her side, armed with a fluffy-looking blanket and a soft pillow.

"I love you guys," he whispered. "I love you. Thank you so much for everything."

Alya bit her lip, shifting her weight from one foot to another. "Adrien… Hearts, I'm sorry if I doubted you. You needed help and I was just being selfish and stupid. Could you ever forgive me for that?"

"It's okay," he smiled. "The important thing is that we all love each other, and we all care for one another here. That's more than enough."

Marinette could tell that answer hadn't helped Alya all that much: she grimaced and looked away, horrified. She still felt guilty.

"Catch some sleep now," Marinette decided to change the subject for the sake of them all. They all needed to rest. "You know you need it."

The akuma nodded before adjusting his pillow. Everyone took that as a signal to leave in order to sort themselves out for bed, but Hearts grabbed Marinette's hand before she could get too far away from him.

"Can I ask you something?" he asked.

She went back on her steps, approaching him again. "Sure."

"If you love me… does that mean you love the others too?"

Marinette had to think about it for a moment, only to realise that he was probably talking about Spades.

"Of course we do. It's still you, you know?" She wanted to hug him, hold him tight to show him how much she loved him, but she stayed in her place. Somehow, it just didn't feel right. "He's still 'Adrien.' He might be a bit different, but we are going to help him."

That seemed to satisfy Hearts. He pulled her in for a quick kiss, but she managed to avoid it and forced him to kiss her left cheek instead; she had had enough of surprise kisses for today, and there was something seriously wrong with Hearts' way of showing affection, so she had decided to avoid it in any way possible. He, however, did not seem to mind too much and fell back onto the little sofa, closing his eyes.

Marinette left that side of the room and approached her desk. She left her purse inside one of her drawers, mumbling a quiet _goodnight_ to Tikki, and grabbed some pillows. She climbed onto the small platform where her bed was at only to find Alya staring wide eyed at the resting figure below them. Nino was mumbling something downstairs, but she didn't pay too much attention to him.

"What's wrong?" she asked her.

"Mari, Hearts just said _others._ Plural." Alya sounded sincerely shocked, but Marinette didn't understand why. Maybe she was just too exhausted.

"Meaning?"

"Meaning that there's more than two of them."

Marinette choked on thin air. She coughed and coughed, falling face front on top of the bed.

" _WHAT?"_

* * *

He hated this.

He had been searching for those damned four for the entire evening with no success and that frustrated him to no end. Spades just couldn't understand how he could have missed them when one of them could hardly walk and Ladybug had pretty much left them on their own after a certain point. He wanted to hit something, break it into a thousand pieces, but know that he couldn't because the noise would only alert them if they were close.

Just to make things better, it was raining heavily now. He could feel his bandages and clothing get soaked, turning into a darker shade of red.

Disgusting.

He gritted his teeth, angry. He should have had them by now, he should have been able to get to them and make them all pay for what they all had done. Hearts would have to pay too: he was an enemy now, he needed to be punished.

An annoying spot of blue appeared under the dim light of a street lamp, and Spades nearly cursed.

 _Not him._

"Heya there!" the blue clothed figure approached him, waving happily at him. "How's the search going?"

"Diamonds," he spat. "What the hell do you want?! Why are you here?!"

"Woah, calm down there brother," the named teen held his hands up defensively. His blue, rectangular glasses shifted with his movement. "I'm here to help you!"

Spades raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Really!" Diamonds nodded. His blonde hair was neatly brushed to the side, just like the Original would wear them. Spades found that slightly irritating. "Tell you what, I even came here _willingly_ , Father didn't order me to come and help you. Pretty nice of me, huh?"

 _Nice my ass_. Diamonds was a liar, everything that came out of his mouth was never true, which meant that he probably had been forced to come to him and probably had a mission.

"I don't give half a crap about what you did, just tell me what you want."

"Ruuude!" Diamonds complained. "I was searching for Plagg, but had to come here because you so desperately needed me."

"I don't frigging need you, you a-"

"Ah ah ah! No interruptions, little brother!"

Spades had to bit his tongue not to lash out at him: he _hated_ when he called him that.

"I found him, you know?" Diamonds continued. "Plagg."

The other akuma stared at him, his permanently furrowed brows raising in surprise. "What?! Where was he hiding?!"

Diamonds giggled. "How would I know?"

"What do you mean _how would I know_? Didn't you find…." Spades stopped mid sentence, growling. "...you didn't actually find him, did you?"

The other hummed. The bastard was having fun.

"You lied! Again!"

Diamonds didn't even bother to look at him, interested in a closed shop down the road. It was quite late, but some shops' lights were still turned on.

"Can I just kill you? Please?!"

He shrugged. "Probably."

"Wait," Spades scratched his head, concentrating. "That means I _can't_ kill you, right?"

"Mmh-mhh."

"How the hell am I supposed to interpret your stupid humming?! Why don't you just stop lying for a second and stop talking in riddles?"

Diamonds made an offended face, bringing his hand to his heart, outraged. "Is that what you think of me, little brother? You think of me as a _liar_?"

"But that's exactly what you are!" Spades was screaming now, exasperated.

"Okay, okay. Let's calm down here a little, all right?" Diamonds gestured him taking a deep breath. "Better?"

"No. Just keep going, say whatever you have to say and leave me alone."

"Well, Plagg disappeared alongside the ring, right? It was my job to get him, as the ring kind of got taken away by a certain someone someone…."

Spades nodded. He remembered being incredibly frustrated and so, so angry at that. The stupid kwami had managed to flee and the ring… the miraculous had been stolen from right under their noses.

"But Father wants me to work with you know! We have a mission!"

Spades groaned. He was going to die. On a second thought, they were both going to die: he'd make sure to bring the bastard with him if he ever felt like killing himself.

"I'm very excited, aren't you?" The other akuma did not even try to understand if he was lying or not; he decided that ignoring him was going to be the thing that could possibly give him a little bit more lifespan. "My first mission with my little brother…! It's going to be fun!"

"Don't call me that!" Spades yelled at him. He was so close from actually kill the guy for real, he didn't need to be tested. He wanted to shut him up for good.

"Don't call you what?"

The disgusting sarcasm in his voice made it. Spades sent silver swords flying towards him with an angry cry, all of them aiming for his head, but the other disappeared into thin air as soon as the swords had started to make their way towards him.

Suddenly, he was kicked from behind, falling face front on the concrete. He turned around just to see Diamonds smirking at him while looking down on him.

"Now, now." All the cheerfulness in his voice was gone, even though he was smiling. The fact that he couldn't see his eyes because of the thick blue lenses bothered him, he could never tell if he was being serious or not because of those things. "That was fun and all, but I wouldn't do that ever again if I were you. Unless you want me to hurt you, that is. If you are feeling slightly masochistic, then I might be able to help."

Spades wanted to spit in his face. "You -!"

A foot brought his back glued to the ground again. He groaned as Diamonds pressed hard onto his stomach.

"Don't forget the hierarchy, little one"

He let go of him, freeing him. He turned his back on Spades, beginning to walk away from him. "Get up and hurry."

The other was still mad, but didn't do anything more than gritting his teeth and show him his worst glare. "Where are we even going?"

"Glad you finally asked," Diamonds said, smirking. "We are going to have a little chat with out beloved mayor."

Spades almost stopped in his tracks. His face lighted up, his mouth opening up in a grin.

 _This was going to be his kind of fun._

* * *

 **A/N:** Adrien is not okay, and I made sure to show that. Or at least you can say that I tried.

Ahahaah, Mari said fuck. I don't plan on making this a regular thing, but I figured that if there was something that would cause Mari to swear Adrien kissing Nino would be it.

Noooow, regarding Hearts' kisses…. Please don't put too much thought into them, because he clearly doesn't.  
Hearts wants to love everyone and anything, and to be loved in return. For him, it is not about which sex he is attracted to, and it's not even about the actual person who he wants to be with: the mere act of being loved is all that matters. He wants warmth, any form of it.

Btw, this is a really unhealthy way of behaving in my opinion, as some love can actually hurt you, just as it would for example in an abusive relationship. In fact, if someone with an abusive behaviour approached Hearts, he would accept them right away and allow them to do whatever they wanted to him, happy of the "love" he'd be receiving.

It's almost as if he's addicted to being loved.

It's a really bad thing.

And since I'm here, the different versions of Adrien are going to be different from his actual personality, aka a bit of OOC: all together, they make Adrien, but when they are separate one from the other they can seem like different people.

I didn't even read this twice... Ugh, I hate this chapter. Please be merciful!

Thank you and have an amazing time!

\- Nami


	9. Chapter 8

As expected from a Monday night, the streets of Paris were quiet. Diamonds welcomed the empty roads and the flashing streetlights, thinking that their job would be easier with everyone gone out of the way.

"Are we going or what?"

The frustrated complaint was coming from Spades, but he paid little attention to it. He instead stared at the building that was facing them with interest, his lips curling up with amusement at the sight of the Hotel _Le Grand Paris,_ residence of the Bourgeois family. Even though he would have absolutely loved to torment Chloé for a while, the girl was not their target tonight; the Mayor would be the only one receiving a visit from them. The prospect of bringing the man to his feet had quite grown on Diamonds, so much that he had accepted Hawkmoth's offer right away and waited for it with anticipation, even though he knew that he would have to work with the unnerving, unsatisfiable Spades.

The akuma was confident that they would not try to murder one another before the end of the day, and even if things did take a turn for the worst and Spades actually attempted to go for his throat, Diamonds was not worried. He could have killed his little brother in the blink of an eye, the only reason he hadn't done so already was because he needed him for this mission. Also, he didn't have the strength to not admit to himself that he absolutely adored tormenting him.

"Diamonds," Spades was almost growling now, standing impatiently next to him as he nervously turned a sword in his grasp. "I'm not waiting any longer. I'm going in."

The other akuma sighed, but smiled nevertheless at his _fragile, weak other self whom he despised so much._

"Of course you can go in, little brother." The lie slid from his tongue with practiced ease. "You remember the plan, correct?"

"The plan doesn't matter! I could climb up to his window by using my swords and kill him in his sleep. It would be so easy that it wouldn't even be my fault!"

"That's a great idea," except that it wasn't; they weren't even there to kill him in the first place. "But you could always just follow me and do as I say, what do you think?"

Spades' mouth stretched in protest, but Diamonds did not allow himself to see his outraged reaction. He approached the building, bringing his hands to his field of vision, creating in this way a sort of frame using the fingers of both of his hands, and including the luxurious hotel between them.

Spades had stupidly suggested to sneak in into the building through a window, but he knew better: he was going to enter from the front door.

He approached the entrance with rehearsed confidence, his ringed fingers clasping the doors' golden handles in order to push them forward, letting himself in. He observed the few lights that were lit on and a sleepy-looking woman behind the reception desk, probably waiting for some important guest that had planned to get to Paris in the middle of the night. He was not noticed as he traveled through the white-marbled floor, stopping in his steps as he felt something coming up his throat. He gently opened his mouth, long fingers caressing his palate in order to collect a small, edged object.

An angry Spades grabbed him by his shoulders, turning him towards the reception desk, and gestured at the distracted hotel-employee who was now glaring around the room in bored fashion. Her eyes even crossed theirs for a moment, but she never seemed to notice the two of them.

That seemed to be what bothered Spades the most. "Why is she _ignoring_ us? She thinks she can do that?!"

 _What an idiot._

"It's because I want so, little brother," his smile was poisonous as he approached her, leaving the red, shining gem which was previously in his grasp on the counter. She did not even flinch at the sound of precious stone meeting marble. "She can't see us."

"You can do that?" Spades looked confused for a moment, but then his eyebrows furrowed again, his eyes darkening in his usual anger. Diamonds figured he was jealous of his power.

But then again, who wouldn't be jealous of all the things he could do? Compared to Spades' power, his was way more entertaining and fun, not to mention useful.

"Aren't you sad?" he asked, hands clapping together, rings and bracelets clashing against one another. "Now we can get to the Mayor undisturbed!"

Spades didn't seem to be too convinced about that. "Why would I care about that? All I want to do is get to that bastard." He was still holding onto one of his silver swords, playing with the elegant, sharp hilt. "And I want to get to him _fast._ This is too slow, Diamonds. You're testing my patience."

He talked of patience as if he actually had any. Of course Spades would have just liked to break into the building by shattering a thousands of windows and waking the entire neighbourhood up, Diamonds had no doubt that that was probably what sounded more likeable to him; he was just _that_ stupid.

"It's a little price to pay for a much bigger prize, little brother! The quieter we are, the more time we get to play with him," he grabbed his sibling by his hand, holding it tightly as he tried to get away from him. Saying the truth left him with an ache at the tip of his stomach, but he knew he needed to be direct with Spades if he didn't want him to blow their cover up. "And we wouldn't want anyone ruining our fun, would we?"

He guided him towards the elevator, feet barely touching the ground because of his joyful skips. Even though he was already pretty annoyed at his brother, he wouldn't let him ruin the fun that they were both going to get. They were going to put up a show, a great, magnificent show that would have had the Mayor pissing himself. He didn't care about the mission in itself or the fact that he was going to scare André, the only reason he could barely hold himself back from giggling like an idiot were the ideas of all the lies he would use on the man in order to have him at his feet.

How could he not be excited for that?

He turned towards his brother as he waited for the elevator to open its doors, and saw a similar grin spread on the familiar features. It was incredible how they managed to find happiness in different ways from the same task: for Diamonds, the lying was what he looked forward to, while Spades couldn't hold himself back from the idea of breaking something. They were different, and yet they were similar. Well, they did share a body and had co-existed with one another not so long ago, but the realisation was still surprising to him.

Did that make him mad as well? Spades and Hearts weren't normal, Diamonds knew that. They had been the ones hit the most by what had happened, and their suffering showed through their fragility, even though they both showed it in very different ways. Spades destroyed things, and Hearts broke so easily. Diamonds remembered the first time they had all seen Hearts, hysterically crying, holding his head between his hands and choking on his own screams. He had been confused at the time: his sincerity in his suffering had disgusted him, and he hadn't been able to recognise himself in his sibling. Only later he had understood that they were one and the same.

He could see a bit of his own madness in the others; his obsession with the manipulating of people and his twisting of the world, allowing him and only him to know the real truth about himself, alongside with his clouded judgement, limited field of view when it came to important decisions, and weird habits. He and his brothers all shared those traits, they were all a bit crazy. Part of him figured it was because they were incomplete, because they needed one another to stabilise themselves and find peace from their inner thoughts and obsessions, but the rest of him knew better than to lie to himself.

It hadn't been that much better when they all had been one. The thread that held them together was just as fragile.

And yet, he found himself not caring. He probably didn't have the emotions to do so, giving the fact that he was merely a fraction of a person, but still wondered what wrong there was in his own behaviour. He found happiness in lying, in being what he was not. One could tell just by looking at him right now, as he was doing by observing himself in the mirror in the luxurious elevator: his blue-shaded glasses hid soft, child-like eyes, but what really caught the eye were the precious jewels that adorned his fingers, wrists, and clothes. Shiny gems could be seen delicately decorating his blue tie and the edges of the collar of his white shirt, both disappearing underneath the similarly delicate white vest. The colour of his suit matched his tie: electric blue, the complete opposite of his brother's annoying red.

He felt happy, like he belonged where he was and in the appearance that he had been given.

He wanted to feel like this forever.

How could he feel like this forever?

The doors of the elevator suddenly opened, and he found himself getting the answer he was looking for by looking at his brother Spades. His breathing was uneven, a wild grin rapidly growing from cheek to cheek as his earrings swinged with every step he took. He watched as his other self let go of any restraint, forgetting about the previous agreement of being quiet and throwing himself down the long corridor with little elegance, and he understood.

They were _free._

Diamonds almost felt like he was floating as he made his way towards his brother, the sweet sound of a door breaking down reaching his years. He proceeded slowly, but arrived at the entrance just in time to see Spades aggressively picking up their target from his collar and throw him mercilessly to the ground. The noises hadn't seemed to wake André up, and he had opened his eyes in the middle of his journey towards the carpeted floor. The sight of the frightened man amused Diamonds, his tongue tingling in anticipation.

"Moooorning, fatass!" Spades chirped, towering over the confused man, who was still on the ground, panting. His leg pressed onto the man's stomach, obtaining a loud of cry of fear from him.

"W-w-who are you?" The Mayor squirmed against his hold, pale like a sheet and sweating horribly. His face was full of horror as he whined. "Security! Someone- help! HELP! H-"

He choked as the leg that was previously on his stomach was raised to step on him. Diamonds watched as the fat man turned defensively on his side, agonising and holding his stomach with shaking hands and giving his back to his brother as he retracted in a sort of protective ball.

"STAY AWAY! PLEASE, LEAVE ME ALONE!"

The akuma simply observed him as he was brought at the verge of tears, his eyes now closed while his mouth kept blubbering pointless pleads for mercy. Unfortunately for him, Diamonds' spell was really too good for anyone to actually hear any of his cries. It was too bad that Diamonds planned in no way of letting the man know any of that; the man might have saved precious oxygen if he had known, but what fun would that be for his little brother? A victim that smartly fought back was no fun for someone like Spades: he wanted a chaotic, desperate person to torment until he felt satisfied, until the blood and sweat messed with his senses enough for him not to feel anything. It was only fair of Diamonds to stay back and watch, letting his little brother have a moment to relieve his stress after a night spent uselessly searching for who used to be his friends, and intervening only when he felt it was appropriate to do so.

Spades' kicked André's back just above his kidneys twice. The Mayor of Paris let out an undignified cry along with a cough, and pathetically attempted to shield his back from his aggressor by extending his arms where he couldn't see them. He would have just taken the beating until Spades had gotten bored or had simply stopped if he had known better, but the man had never been too clever and certainly was not thinking straight now, too focused on saving his own skin.

As Diamonds had predicted, the fact that André was trying to protect himself was unnerving for Spades, who delivered a couple of well aimed kicks to the man's back, not caring of crashing his fingers or hands with each blow. He turned the man around with the same foot that had been striking him, and looked at his victim straight in the eyes as he kicked him again, this time in his stomach.

Spades' breath was uneven, his eyes wide open in a madness that Diamonds had grown accustomed to, and that had always brought a wave of sadness - if he even could call it that, he really found it hard to name the little things he felt - with it.

Spilling someone's guts was Spades only way to stop thinking.

It was only when one of his brother's silver swords appeared in his grasp that André started wailing. Diamonds had to give him credit; it had taken quite a while for the man to start screaming like a little girl, he was surprised. Spades lifted the man up from the floor with ease, one hand around the Mayor's collar, and the other holding the dear blade.

"P-PLEASE! NO! NOOO!" His cries were ugly and uneven, sloppy sobs not allowing the man to finish a single word. His hands fought against Spades' hold; he was not choking him, only holding him into place.

Diamonds contemplated the idea of stepping in, now. He knew Spades: he had been one with him not so long ago. There were lines he did not like to cross when hurting somebody, but he was unable to control himself and respect the boundaries that he set for himself. Spades looked like he was enjoying himself possibly too much for the man's safety; that could only end in him hating himself even more than he already did, and with a bloody surprise for the cleaners the following morning. Diamonds could picture the carpeted floor changing its shade to a dark, vibrant red, adorned with an ugly corpse to complete the work of an angry, uncontrollable teenager. Stopping his brother seemed necessary, now - the Mayor was no good to them as dead.

It was in that moment that Spades' red eyes narrowed, and he looked at the man in front of him as if he was a person for the first time. Diamonds caught his jaw tensing, his brows furrowing in concern and horror as he realised that his hand was grasping an adult man's throat and not a toy. His reaction was sudden, angry: Andrè was thrown to the other side of the room in frustration, only for Spades to turn on his heels and approach his brother with a quick step.

Diamonds' raised an eyebrow at him as he saw that he was directed at the door right behind him. He caught him by the shoulder just as he was about to pass him.

"You look quite happy, little brother!" Spades tried to get his hands off him, but he didn't let him. "Everything ran smoothly, I imagine?"

Spades did not snap at his sibling like he usually would have. He instead shifted in his brother's hold, eyes traveling around the room in distress as his mouth opened and closed repeatedly, as if the words weren't coming to him.

"I couldn't…" His mouth closed again, fingers hardening their grip on his other self's arm. "I can't… I can't find anything to blame him for."

Blue eyes widened behind thick lens, but Diamonds didn't flinch. He kept his gaze on his brother, forcing him to turn towards him with a strong pull.

The akuma was doing everything in his power to avoid his brother's eyes, even as he now faced him. His usual confident stance had changed, and he now seemed insecure underneath the other's grasp, almost fragile. It almost looked like he was crumbling to pieces in Diamond's hands.

"And if I can't blame him… If it's not his fault, then am I the one to blame?" his voice had turned into a careful whisper, something that tormented Diamonds to no end for how unfitting it was of him. "I-it has to be, right? Every event has a cause, there's always someone to blame, to punish. And right now… that someone is me."

Of course Spades _had_ to have an identity crisis while they were in the middle of threatening someone. It was in times like this that Diamonds wished he was more empathetic: if he had actually managed to understand what was going on through his brother's head, he maybe could have figured out a way to avoid making a scene and quickly get him back to his violent, normal self. Diamonds briefly threw a glance behind him, only to realise with relief that the Mayor had fainted probably out of fear or because of the strong impact. That gave them a little more time to put Spades back together.

"Say…" red eyes had stopped fleeing now, and the swordsman was staring right back at him. His shoulders had lowered, giving up on fighting Diamonds' hold. "Can you hurt me?"

Diamonds stiffened, his breath getting caught in his throat.

 _What?_

"Punch me, throw me off a bridge, do whatever you can come up with. It would make things right again."

Something inside the heartless akuma shifted. A familiar coldness started spreading from the middle of his chest, paralysing him in a way that he didn't believe possible. He had felt like this when he had been whole, he realised. Something within him was screaming out loud for him to rebel against this self-destructive act, as if the remaining shards of his morality were reaching out to resurface from an abyss of lies and prefabricated realities. And yet, he still struggled to understand what exactly was being asked of him. How could someone who couldn't name his own emotions help another in need of emotional support?

Diamonds decided to forget about himself for a moment, and to remember _them_ as a whole, to remember _Adrien._ He allowed recent and old memories to wash through him, teaching him again about his past humanity, about what it meant to be a person. Feelings traveled through his mind, and while he still couldn't quite name them yet, he found he could remember sensations he associated them with. Warmth, softness, colours… It was all so very human, and so very unreal to him. He felt them flow through him, allowing them to change him even though he found them so repulsively sincere.

It was in this way that his instincts took over, and his hands traveled gently first to Spades' neck, then to his head. He embraced him with a tenderness he didn't know he was capable of, holding him firmly and yet comfortingly against his shoulder.

Spades' reaction was slow, with his body taking its sweet time to relax against his hold. Shy hands grasped onto the back of his suit, and Diamonds felt that it was time for him to speak.

"I can't do that," he said as he moved a strand of hair away from his brother's face. " _He_ 'd be sad if I did."

For the first time in his short life, Diamonds didn't know whether he was lying or not.

Spades didn't catch onto that, however, as he waited only a little longer to decide that he had had enough of Diamonds' hug. The other watched as he pulled away, flustered and suddenly uncomfortable to be held in his brother's arms. His eyes were clear as he distanced himself from the other, his lips forming the sulk Diamonds was so used to.

"Damn," he commented, wiping his nose with the back of his hand. _Ew, gross._ "What… what did you do to me?"

Spades was back _._ He seemed to be as grumpy as he normally would be, which comforted Diamonds to no end. The akuma could only feel anger and utter despair, it looked like he didn't have any in-betweens.

 _What a pitiful existence._

He smiled. "I didn't do a single thing, little brother. It was all you. Although I gotta say, it was quite amusing to watch you get all emotional on me."

Spades turned bright red at that, clenching his fists and grinding his teeth. "You definitely did something to me, you bastard! Your magic made me feel all.. weird!"

The only weird thing that had happened was that Diamonds had discovered that, despite all odds, he still had a heart, and he certainly hadn't done anything to Spades. The Original was just _that_ sensitive, it seemed. Diamonds had had a taste of what being Him had meant, and hadn't like it one bit: feelings were really not his thing. Also he had to admit, hugging tenderly another version of himself had been pretty bizarre.

Of course, Spades didn't need to know any of that.

"Ah, you figured it out?" He grinned, pretending that he was trying to hide his disappointment. "And here I thought I had been careful!"

"I will _kill_ you if you ever do that to me again." Spades' eyes spelled out murder to him, amusingly enough. "I am serious. Don't test my patience, Diamonds."

Although his brother's lack of gratitude annoyed him, Diamonds decided to move onto more serious business. They still had someone to threaten, after all.

"You can do that anytime, little brother, but aren't you forgetting something?" He gestured behind him, where André laid on the ground, unconscious. "We aren't finished here."

"So the fatass fainted, great." Spades observed the man with little interest before looking back at his brother. "And now what?"

"Now you do what I tell you and relax." Diamonds licked his lips. He had had enough of being nice like the Original for today, it seemed. "It's my turn for a little while."

Spades smirked at him as he approached the man with eagerness. It seemed that he did not feel any sort of remorse as he kicked the man again, causing him to wake up in a panicked fashion. Spades was a simple being, he almost envied him.

Diamonds put on his best horrified face as he suddenly grabbed his little brother, pulling him away from the man.

"You monster!" He screamed, pushing him further away. "Hasn't this man been through enough already? Haven't you gotten what you wanted through your sick games?"

Spades looked at him, startled, but didn't seem to comment on his odd behaviour. It was weird to see him being so cooperative, but Diamonds was glad to see that he was not going to interfere with his performance.

He kneeled down next to the frightened and pained Mayor, attempting to help him sit up from the carpeted floor. He wasn't surprised when his hand was yanked away.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!"

Diamonds assumed a mortified expression as he put a little distance between himself and the man.

"Please Sir," he asked gently, holding the hand the Mayor had refused close to his chest. "I mean you no harm. Allow me to help you in whatever way I can."

André had been startled by the kindness of his voice and actions, which was probably why he hadn't answered him. Diamonds took that as a chance to keep building his little web of lies.

"I know this may sound arrogant of me, but I need you to listen to what I have to say. We were sent to talk to you by our Master, Hawkmoth."

He saw the man stiffen at the mention of the name. "H-Hawkmoth? Are you…?"

"Yes, we both are akumas who obey Hawkmoth's wishes," Diamonds answered. "But that does not mean that I wish you harm. Our Master's orders did not include hurting you, and I intend not to do so."

That actually was true in a way, but the Mayor still seemed to be doubtful of his intentions.

"You can tell him that I have n-no intention of making deals with terrorists!"

Well, what did you know, the man actually had some balls to stand up to him like that. Unfortunately for him, that was not something that went on his favour: Diamonds needed him to be as cooperative as possible, he didn't need André to get heroic on him now.

"I understand perfectly, Sir," he bowed his head, trying to fool the man into believing that he respected him. "But you may want to listen to what I have to say. There are horrible things he will do if you don't obey his wishes."

"Hawkmoth can't threaten me, I'm not afraid of him!"

There was some sincerity behind those words, and Diamonds felt repulsed by that. André was proving himself to be more courageous than he had given him credit for, considering that he still was laying on the ground, unable to stand up because of the injuries Spades had caused to his back while his perpetrators were in the same room as him.

"It is not _you_ who my Master wishes to threaten," he allowed some of his malice to show through his words, his smile darkening as he stood up, towering over the man. "Although we are aware of a certain young woman sleeping upstairs whose suffering would be devastating to you."

His glance moved on Spades, who smirked in return, clearly on the same page as him.

André paled.

"No, our Master aims higher than that," he continued. "He is threatening the _whole city._ "

With a snap of his fingers, bright blue flames appeared in the room, swallowing the precious tapestry and furniture. A strong wind appeared out of nowhere, and caused the wide windows to open with so much violence that they shattered in a thousand pieces. Diamonds stood in the middle of the hell he had created, watching with amusement as the Mayor struggled to get to a standing position now more than ever, his eyes portraying a fear like no other. The gentle flames danced at their master's feet, circling him with elegance while caressing his cheeks.

André was looking at him differently, now. The fire had finally lit up the room, allowing him to take in the features of his aggressors. He had recognised them.

"You… Adrien… H-how?" He wasn't even capable of forming a complete sentence for how shocked he was.

The wind was merciless now, striking everything around Diamonds with violence and fighting the equally terrifying flames. It was almost as if the two were competing for completing the destruction of the room they were in, expanding and breaking anything on their path, but still avoiding the figure of their caster and their victim.

"A-Adrien! Stop!"

Diamonds wanted to laugh. _Him_? _Adrien_? That was so deliciously incorrect that it made him want to pity the man. Unfortunately, his newly-discovered heart did not seem to stretch that much. He decided instead to get a little mean; the man deserved that for having called the Original's name.

"This is only a fraction of what I can really do."

He clapped his hands, and suddenly André was floating upside-down in the air, circled by a delicate blue light. The man was turned around, giving in this way his back to Diamonds, and forced to face the windows, where he was greeted by a fearful sight. Dark, purple clouds filled the sky, their gas-like forms stretching randomly towards the buildings and trees of the city, but never managing to touch them. Diamonds doubted André understood what they really were, but the man was clever enough to understand that they were bad news.

"Those are a manifestation of my curse on this city," he said with pride. "At my Master's order, I can use them to cause incredible damage and suffering to the citizens of Paris."

He set the man down, turning him around so that he was sitting on the floor now. His face was as pale as a sheet, and his breathing was uneven and sloppy. Diamonds' eyes didn't miss the trembling of his shoulders whenever the flames got too close to his figure.

"Now, regarding what he asks you to do; it's pretty simple. I am sure that you are aware of our little… _situation_." He stepped towards the man, the flames creating a clear path between them. "My Master wants to find Ladybug, but she escaped after we managed to lure her into our trap yesterday, which was already pretty disappointing on its own. My job is to find her of course, but how can I find someone who is purposely hiding so well from me when I don't even know her real identity? Simple: by making someone who is her ally approach and search for her as well."

"You… want me to catch her for you?" The Mayor's eyes were wide, vivid. "But.. how would I do that?"

Diamonds snorted. "You want _me_ to figure out that part? Ask her to meet you personally about what happened yesterday, mobilise the police and question every teenager with short black hair… You can do whatever you like as long as you do locate her and contact us, I don't particularly care."

"But… Ladybug has done so much for this city. She's our _hero_."

" _Our vigilante_ , you mean."

"And if I capture her, what would happen to the city if Hawkmoth wins?" André's hands were shaking now more than ever. It was a peculiar sight to see such a big man turn into a frightened child, Diamonds was amused by that. "And what about _you_? Who is going to save you if she's gone?"

His concern was surprising to the akuma: he honestly didn't think that the man knew who he was apart from ' _his daughter's crush,'_ and he certainly couldn't have imagined that he actually cared about him. Would that have made things better if he had known that when he was whole, knowing that there was _someone_ out there who worried about him?

"Thank you for the concern, Mr. Mayor," he extended one arm, pointing at somewhere outside of the window. "But you clearly are worrying over the wrong things. Perhaps you need a little _demonstration_ of what I can really do?"

The dark cloud stretched towards an unlucky tree, which was swallowed by the substance, thick enough to not allow neither the Mayor or Diamonds to see the tree in the middle of it all. The process took only under a minute, but when the fog left its victim, the tree looked completely different than before: green leaves had disappeared, and the lively, brown branches had turned a dark shade of black. The trunk seemed to be decomposing, with little pieces of it slowly disintegrating while worms fed over the newly discovered carcass. Diamonds' eyes turned over to the Mayor as he observed the macabre event. There was horror and fear on his face, probably caused by him imagining what his curse could have done if used on a person instead of a tree.

"You will do as my Master says if you know what's best for you and this whole city," Diamonds threatened. He allowed the flames to die out slowly, the wind becoming a soft caress against his skin. "We will make sure that you have taken action by tomorrow, you'll have the whole night to think about what to do."

The akuma turned on his heels, gesturing for Spades to follow him, leaving the man alone in his misery.

"Good night, Mr. Mayor," he chirped. "We'll see you tomorrow."

Diamonds did not spare him a second glance as he headed for the door, reaching for the elevator. He stared at his own reflection once inside, and couldn't help but notice that he was smiling. He hadn't lied as much as he could have, but he certainly had put up a show that had satisfied him for now. He eyed his brother, who stayed still next to him, unusually quiet.

"What's wrong, little brother?" He asked as they left the elevator, entering the Hotel's reception. Just as Diamonds had planned, no one seemed to have heard any of what had happened upstairs. The only person present was the still sleepy-looking receptionist, who was now scrolling through her Facebook page out of boredom. "Something bothering you?"

Spades gave him a look, half-closing his eyes in annoyance. "You. That's what's bothering me, it's _you_."

"How rude! I am your favourite brother out of all of us, you told me so!" Diamonds picked up the little ruby he had left on the receptionist's desk before, playing with it as he walked towards the exit.

"I've never said that!" Spades said through sealed teeth. "And you know damn well that I hate you!"

He raised an eyebrow at that. He knew that much, he wasn't dumb: Spades hated everything.

"Care to elaborate on why?"

"You got more time to play with him than I did, even though you told me we _both_ would have fun." Now on the streets, the reflection of Spades' silver sword was the only thing that created any sort of light. "You really are a disgusting liar."

"Oh, brother! Your words wound me!" He brought his hand to his forehead, dramatically tilting it backwards. "I might just die for how hurt and sad I am right now!"

"Then die. You'd be doing the world a favour."

"Is that how you thank me after all I've done for you?" Diamonds sighed. "Well, I suppose that's something that comes with being the older brother. No one really appreciates your sacrifices."

He played with the little gem in his hands, trying to see a similarity between it and his brother's eyes in the dark with little success.

"But don't worry little brother, I'll make up for that."

He closed the palm of his hand, crushing it. He watched as slowly the purple clouds in the sky faded, leaving the moon to shine shyly behind a cover of grey but light clouds.

" _I'll make sure that we'll have lots of other times to have fun together."_

* * *

 **A/N:** What do you know, I'm alive and well.

A villain-centered chapter! Not what you all expected I bet, but it was necessary and I had lots of fun writing it (Diamonds is REALLY fun to write). Have a careful read, Diamonds explains a lot of stuff regarding his "brothers" here. Also, maybe you can figure out his power by now: he looks really scary, but he does have a weak point, and I made sure to show it here.

Next time you'll have little ol' Hearts all by himself with the trio, and he's going to spill out some answers. Stay tuned for that!

As usual, I didn't even read this a second time. Please forgive my mistakes!


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